Kenshin in Space
by MaraJadeblu
Summary: Don't let the name fool you-is good! A forth season of Kenshin takes place in space- Meet new characters, get old ones into relationships, watch Kenshin-gumi fight the evils of the universe! Who cares if it would never happen? JUST READ IT! New chap 8!
1. Just another day.

  
    Warning: this is totally AU and might not make any sense, but once they're in space I have a few ideas.   
    * Stuff in stars is in English. * _Thoughts will be in italics_ when it is in third person, but a lot of it isn't. : Actions are in colons. : (That's where all the fun is ^.^) I know, bu-dum chhh!   
    (this fic is based solely on the anime, and the Revenge arc basically has never happened)   
    DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, it belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and some other people like Jump comics and such. I'm not making any money off of this… unfortunately :P.   
  
    Chapter 1: Just another day... gone wrong....   
  
    This is my day: I wake up, dress, clean, teach and practice, shop, come home, bathe, eat somewhere in there, and sleep. How would a girl like me end up living with two strange men and another guy leeching off me? Kenshin. How did I end up with one of my students calling me a raccoon- and I end up chasing himm around until I am satisfied by beating him to a pulp? Kenshin. Why is there a guy doing my laundry? Kenshin. Why isn't Sano working? Megumi. But why is Megumi here? Kenshin. Okay, maybe that doesn't apply.   
    I let them flirt, it didn't really matter anymore whether or not Sano worked, he actually didn't hang around as much. Him and Megumi were going out to eat alone nowadays. I could almost hear the wedding bells. I rolled my eyes, who knew that Megumi and Sano would probably get married before Kenshin and I started to even recognize a relationship between us? I growled a little at that. The only way I could get Kenshin to move forward was to practically throw myself at him and I was already doing that as far as I ever would. Did I have to start walking around the Dojo naked? Ah! I blushed, never, never, never, never!   
    "Oi, Busu, I'm done." Yahiko said to me from the front of the Dojo. I had already calmly thrown the dirty wet rag I was using in his face at the word 'busu'. I stood up. "Good, that makes two of us. As soon as Kenshin finishes we have to do some shopping."   
    Yahiko had turned red with anger and threw the cloth back at me.   
    "I'm done as well de gozaru." I ducked the cloth and it hit Kenshin in the face. "Oro?" he said through the cloth. I hadn't meant for it to hit him, really. I've been trying to break my habit of throwing inanimate objects at him.   
    "Gomen Kenshin, I was trying to hit busu," Yahiko called. I picked up the pail I had the water in and in one throw it emptied and hit Yahiko in the head, all before Kenshin even pulled the cloth off his face. Skills.   
    I grabbed an unconscious, swirly-eyed Yahiko by the arm and dragged him along. Kenshin sweatdropped but didn't even ask. "Ikuzu, shopping."   
  
    I always have believed that buying in bulk was the cheapest way to do things. Somehow Yahiko doesn't get it. He, to this day, believed that me buying in bulk was somehow just a way to further torture the boy. I enjoy torturing him to some extent, but…   
    "Oi, busu, why am I carrying the most stuff? Make Kenshin carry some." I glared at him silently. I didn't want to force Kenshin into doing strenuous exercise. He was recovering still, at least in my mind.   
    Kenshin of course, would have gladly carried some, if I had let him, "Kenshin's carrying his share." I glanced at Kenshin, who was carrying nothing but an abundance of radishes and a few other vegetables. It was Kenshin actually, that wanted the radishes. I just told him that if he wanted to get them then we had better buy them in bulk.   
    But, I was in a good mood that day, so I thought I'd try one of my spur of the moment 'try-to-be-nice-to-the-gaki' antics. I turned to him, smiled, and made the generous proffer to carry something he was by offering a hand. I was much stronger than I looked, and stronger than Yahiko even though he refused to acknowledge that.   
    Yahiko narrowed his eyes and looked at my hand as if it was a ticking time bomb. He moved the bags further away from me and looked at me suspiciously. "No, there has to be a catch…"   
    :BONK:   
    That's what I get for being nice. Yahiko now walked obediently with a lump on his head, and I kept my groceries to myself. Kenshin opened his mouth to say something. I glared at him; he shut it. Kenshin didn't know how to be subtle; he was one of the bluntest guys I knew. I had figured this out after that time when he said he was thinner than me… and that other time he said I had definitely gotten heavier… I found that I had closed my eyes and taken up one tightly curled fist. I went through some breathing exercises that Megumi had suggested and let my fist slowly down. Kenshin had been staring at me in fear.   
    Lately though, I also noticed that Kenshin had been staring at me when he thought I wasn't looking. I blushed and felt much less angry. I was right, I waited and I was right, Kenshin did like me- that way. He made small moves: a brief touching of hands here, closeness there, and I recorded every second of it in my mind. Then other times it seemed like I alone had feelings for him and I would wait forever.   
    Still waiting.   
    I sighed and Kenshin looked at me, "Is something wrong Kaoru-dono?" I smiled at him in return and shook my head. And I would still wait, as long as it took. I could see the time was nearing but I would have waited forever, just to be with him. With his long red hair, and his kind but sad violet eyes. I would wait to call the sweetest man on earth mine… Wait a second... maybe I was exaggerating. Sweetest man on earth? Wait forever? FOREVER? As in, never get him? EVER? I would wait forever just to never be with him… no! He had damn well better come around- or I'd kick his butt!   
    "Um, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked me, he sounded far off.   
    I picked my head up. I had continued going strait when we had to turn and I wasn't even on the road anymore. I sweatdropped.   
    "What are you doing?" Kenshin questioned me. I actually didn't know myself. My solution: make something up, "I, uh, thought I heard something…" I looked around, shrugged and jogged back up to them. Out of the corner of Yahiko's mouth he mumbled, "I knew she had a screw loose."   
    Let's just say we ended up carrying him home, but not before Kenshin stopped to listen and see if he could hear what I had heard even though I think he guessed I hadn't heard anything. He furrowed his brow and emitted a "hm" and then we left in silence, he didn't say anything about whether or not he heard a sound.   
  


~~Three Weeks Later~~

  
  
    Kenshin: doing laundry. Yahiko: cleaning. Sano: doing nothing. Megumi and I: talking. Yup, another typical day. The sky was cloudy, but I liked the breeze and the unique lighting the clouds gave off. I enjoyed the finer things in life. I didn't need adventure and all that to be happy… it just kinda comes to me; but not today. Today was my day to relax, take a bath, talk with Megumi, and take a walk to the Akebeko and talk to Tae… Why were all these things leading to thoughts of Kenshin? They really shouldn't, why didn't I stop thinking about him?   
    "He may be a dolt, but he can be romantic when he tries," It took me a second to realize Megumi was talking about Sano and not Kenshin. "Or at least he looks cute when he tries." I nodded half-heartedly. "Have you made any progress?" She nodded towards Kenshin.   
    I sighed. Lately I had been talking to Megumi about this sort of stuff. She seemed much more experienced than me, but I didn't ask for advice, nor did she give it. Me, ask advice from Megumi? Yeah, right… I would never live that down. "Would he be doing laundry right now if I had?"   
    "……Yes."   
    That made me angry, "What do you take me for? Some sort of SLAVEMASTER?!"   
    "……Yes," Megumi, Yahiko and Sano added. I must have said that quite loudly.   
    "Yahiko! Get back to work! Sano, shut up, you're not doing anything!" I turned back to glare at Megumi while I heard Yahiko muttering the words "busu" and "kill".   
    Megumi had already started to leave. "I don't have time to hang around such uncouth people anymore," she indicated Sano and I, "I have a job, as a _doctor_. Ja! Ohohohoho." I closed my eyes to calm myself. I usually didn't hit girls. I had only tried to attack Megumi what, two, three times?   
    In truth, although she was endlessly arrogant and constantly made fun of me, Megumi was one of my closest friends. Sano was like a brother, and Megumi was like… a sister-in-law… sort of. She was a sister-in-law that I didn't get along with yet was good friends with… I don't know. It was weird. We got along a lot better ever since she gave up on Kenshin and started to lean her favor towards the taller of the two. I believed, in fact I was sure that her feelings had been real for Kenshin and that she still cared deeply for him.   
    That was okay; neither of us would have gotten anywhere it seemed. I didn't care that much. I was happy being with Kenshin, but someday…. I tried not to think about how lonely I was without someone like Kenshin. I was also strongly affirmed that it was a rule; Kenshin and I were together, without all the benefits. Sano had told me about how he let inquiring minds know I was taken whereas I let inquiring eyes and minds know Kenshin was taken.   
    No one would make me as happy as Kenshin did, even if we weren't together.   
    Wow, never underestimate how your life can change in one day. I watched as Megumi left the dojo. Maybe ten seconds later I watched as she walked back in with two men in tow. One of them seemed fairly old, in his forties or fifties. The other was a bit older than me but not by much. The former was average height (taller than Kenshin and I) and had bushy brown and gray hair as well as a mustache. He didn't look at all Japanese although he wore a brown gi and a tan hakama. As he neared I could tell he had rounder brown eyes that were surrounded by lined wrinkles.   
    The other one was pretty tall. He had very dark, almost black hair that was strait but cut very short and rather spiked. He had kind but sad gray eyes and his features were soft though his face was oval shaped. His gi, I thought, accented his eyes since it was also gray, and his hakama was blue. He didn't look Japanese either. "Sumimasen but can my friend and I speak you the owner of the house please?" The younger one asked. He looked right at me like he already knew who owned the house. I was not put off though.   
    "We don't want to buy anything thank you." I stepped off the porch and walked towards them. Kenshin looked up from his laundry and I could tell he was being careful. If Kenshin was concerned I should be on my guard as well, I figured.   
    The younger one laughed but the older one frowned… his mood quickly squished the other's mirth. "We're not here to sell anything, eto…?"   
    "It's strange to ask a person their name in their own home without introducing yourselves," I said bluntly.   
    "Ah… Gomen, gomen!" The younger replied nervously. "This is my friend Tackets-san and ore wa Do- iie, Sawyer Dominic desu. In my culture it's okay to do that, I apologize again." I tilted my head and looked at him suspiciously, they had very strange names. I could tell they were western, but what were they doing here? "This beautiful young lady showed us in," he indicated Megumi, who smiled. Sano fumed in the corner.   
    "Oi, so what's you're business here then?" Sano yelled none too politely.   
    Megumi saved me the trouble, "Sano! Heel!"   
    Sano made a sound of disgust, "I ain't no fuckin' dog fox woman!"   
    "You're a mutt, when you can prove me wrong then argue, silly man."   
    "I don't need to argue with no fox." Sano crossed his arms.   
    "You're not worth the time, you mutt."   
    "Fox."   
    "Mutt."   
    "Fox."   
    "Mutt."   
    "When did the whole mutt thing start?" Yahiko chipped in, "I always thought he looked like a chicken."   
    I pictured a rooster strutting around my house and doing nothing in Sano's place. It actually wasn't that different… We all laughed, but I had almost forgotten my guests. The stared in horror as Yahiko and Sano attempted to kill each other, Yahiko was on his head and Sano was pummeling him from below.   
    After a long staring pause Saya-san burst out laughing. It seemed like he hadn't understood most of that conversation, but what they were doing now was understood universally. The older man gave Saya-san a push and he stopped.   
    He cleared his throat. "And what is your name? I'm sorry, my Japanese isn't the best."   
    I came back to what we were doing, "Watashi wa Kamiya Kaoru desu." Kenshin had come to stand next to me. Behind me I heard a crash. If they had wrecked anything I was gonna- I picked up Yahiko's bokken from the porch and headed towards the cloud of dust that was Yahiko and Sano. "YAMETE!"   
    :WHACK! BONK, BONK, BONK!:   
    Sano now had one large bump on his head, and Yahiko had three smaller ones… and I, I had peace of mind. I went back to my guests. "Those things are Myoujin Yahiko and Sagara Sanosuke," I said through gritted teeth. "Kenshin, did you introduce yourself?" Kenshin nodded with a smile plastered on his face. I turned around to introduce Megumi but she was already dragging Sano and Yahiko over by the ear.   
    Saya-san turned to Taketsu-san and said something like, "* I can see the women rule the house more clearly here. *" Then he chuckled, but we stared blankly at him.   
    He turned back and saw that we didn't understand. "Gomen, I said that women rule the house here, kitto."   
    :Sweatdrops all around:   
    "So you're here why?" Sano asked again.   
    I pushed him to the ground, "Sano, stop being rude!"   
    "Iyo, it is a fair question. And I am here to answer it, not to not answer it." I almost laughed at his funny wording. I could tell he didn't know the word for 'avoid'.   
    He looked at me all of a sudden and blurted out a muttering of what sounded like "skushi eggo".* I had no idea what he was speaking now but it was probably improper Japanese. We all looked at him funny. When he realized he had said whatever he was trying to say out loud he became extremely nervous and threatened looking. He took his hands up in a sign of peace and forfeit meanwhile I was still wondering what the hell he had said… ??*.*??   
    Kenshin broke everyone's stillness by looking up at the sky. "It's gonna rain…" I also looked up and realized he was right. The wind was blowing harder and the clouds had become darker gray. Then all of a sudden Kenshin realized, "The laundry!!!" and ran to go take it down from its drying rack.   
    I turned to Megumi, "Please show them in before it rains?"   
    "Yes, yes, silly girl, now go and help your Ken-san's precious laundry," she winked and began to show my guests in. I only stared after her for a second in shock, then turned and walked over to help Kenshin with the laundry.   
  


___________________________________________________________________   
  
*What Dominic was trying to say was "utsukushi egao" which I believe means "beautiful smile" my spelling could be off for utsukushi but the translation should work. ^.^0 Poor Dom got it all wrong. EGGOS!   
___________________________________________________________________

  
  
  
    By the time we had almost finished bringing in the laundry it had begun to rain, and I was already soaked. I was ready to go in and talk to our guests but I caught Kenshin looking at me again. I didn't think he realized that he was doing it.   
    Another thing I noticed was that Kenshin was soaked. The gi he wore loosely was hanging off him and his bangs were weighed down by rain so that they almost completely covered his eyes. Some of the longer bangs on the sides of his head were plastered to his face and neck as his wet skin showed light muscle tones as he worked quietly on folding laundry in the glimmering light. I stared at him too as I fiddled with the laundry and managed to get out, "Kenshin, you're soaked. You should go change," when our eyes met.   
    Kenshin looked down and blushed. "You're just as soaked as I am, Kaoru-dono." I looked down at myself and freaked. My gi was almost totally open and the rain had made my wrappings underneath stick closely to my body. I turned red in the face and tried to run away as fast as I could gracefully… I think it looked more like my cheeks were on fire.   
  
    Kenshin came into the room where everyone was sitting before Kaoru did. He had tried to ring out his hakama as best he could and changed into his only other gi. Kaoru-taichi* had bought it for him rather randomly not too long ago. They decided he needed the option of a change of clothes. He didn't wear the dark blue gi very often, not because he didn't like it, only because he usually forgot he had it… He was so used to his pink one…   
    Yahiko had already dried off and sat down. It hadn't taken him as long as Kenshin to dry off because Kenshin and Kaoru had stayed outside the longest. Kaoru came in wearing her yellow kimono and sat to the right of Kenshin. A dim light was lit on her side so that it made her more visible than most.   
    Sawyer was smiling patiently for them to be ready to begin. He looked at each of the people he was facing from left to right. The smallest one was first, Yahiko was glaring at him suspiciously. Megumi-san and Sanosuke-san were arguing under their breath over whether or not to trust the newcomers.   
    Kenshin came next, he sat calmly with a nervous expression as he hoped that Sano and Megumi wouldn't knock over anything and start a fire. He also watched Sawyer and Tackets closely. _Neither of them wield swords and there's no reason for them to want to hurt us,_ he reasoned, _There is something wrong, but _they_ aren't a threat._ Kenshin turned back to Sano and Megumi who were now banging on something every time they insulted one another, _THEM however…_ Kenshin sweatdropped, "Maa, maa."   
    Sano turned and loomed over Kenshin, "Nani?" He demanded threateningly.   
    Kenshin laughed nervously and quickly answered, "Nan demo nai!"   
    Kaoru hit them both over the head, "BAKA!" She turned back to Sawyer and Tackets. "Now, what is it you wanted to speak to us about?" She smiled.   
    "Ummm," was all Sawyer could manage.   
    Tackets sighed next to him. He was the blunter of the two and although they had tried to plan out what they were going to say, it all came down to this, "Sawyer-san and I are from the future and we need you're help."   
    "…"   
    "…"   
    "…"   
    "…"   
    Cicadas chirped.   
    "Huh?" was all Yahiko said.   
    Sawyer licked his lips nervously. "Mou, can you be any more blunt?" he asked under his breath.   
    "Is this some sort of joke?" Sano asked rudely. Kaoru rolled her eyes.   
    "Joudan janai!" Sawyer yelled passionately everyone backed up a little away from him but Kenshin at his outburst. Kenshin sat there seriously considering what he had said.   
    "Gomen demo," Kenshin said with a smile, "can you explain it to me de gozaru ka?" Kaoru, Sano, Megumi and Yahiko all looked at him with open mouths and eyes that asked, 'Don't tell me you BELIEVE him?' Kenshin sweatdropped.   
    Sawyer, on the other hand, smiled broadly. "Arigatouyo for believing me. I can explain if you give me the chance." He looked at each of them individually and in turn each of them settled down a little.   
    "Go ahead," Sano waved a hand dismissively, "But I ain't stickin' around to hear his bullshit." He began to stand-   
    -and suddenly he fell on his ass again. Megumi had pulled him down by his ear. "Ita-ta-ta-ta," he said as he rubbed his ear. After a pause the yelling started… "OI! What was that for fox-lady, if I don't want to listen to his crap then I don't have to listen to his crap!!!"   
    "MORON! Even if he is lying he's still not as crude as YOU ARE!!"   
    "Says the woman with the FOX EARS SCREAMING!!!"   
    "Maa maa taritomo…"   
    "Is this what you do all day?" Sawyer asked Kaoru with amusement. She sweatdropped and started getting angry, _how embarrassing!!_   
    "Fine," Megumi answered calmly to who-knows-what, "Let him go if he wants." She crossed her arms and looked away smugly.   
    Sano stood, faced the other direction and did the same, "I'll leave you to have fun with the strange men."   
    "ORO?!" Likewise, Megumi turned blue. Sawyer, Kaoru and Yahiko's eyes grew big and round. Megumi grabbed the nearest throwable thing and chucked it at Sano's head, "DIRTY MAN!"   
    That nearest thing was not Yahiko… but the light…   
    The room went dark except for the lightning outside… and oh, yeah, Sano's hair.   
    "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!"   
    "Eep! Gomen!" Megumi realized that she had gone overboard while Sano ran around screaming.   
    "Hayaku! Get him water!" Kaoru yelled at Yahiko.   
    Yahiko happily complied… by tripping Sano outside and closing the shouji behind him. "Hai!" he said with a grin.   
    At first Sano was too relieved to care what had happened. He felt his hair sizzling in the rain. But then… "Oi!!! Ano gaki! You locked me out in the rain!" He pounded on the shouji.   
    Inside Kenshin had been trying to convince Yahiko to open the door and it finally worked. A very wet, very pissed Sano stormed into the room and say back down with a thud.   
    There was a moment of silence before Megumi held up a finger and said tartly, " I guess you don't want to go home after all."   
    Sanosuke turned to her very slowly and gave her only the slightest smirk that only she would notice, "Sadist."   
    She tried hard not to laugh. It was his way of forgiving her for setting his hair on fire. In return fox ears popped out of the top of her head, "Ohohohoho."   
    To everyone else in the room, the exchange just seemed weird. Kaoru shook her head, "So as you were saying?"   
    Sawyer smiled again. "Yes, um… We're from the future because we need your help," he said to Kaoru. Before she could ask he continued, "In the future… actually, about 1200 years in the future humans discover a way to travel through space to other *solar systems*…" he stopped when he saw the blank look on their faces. "Nanda?"   
    Kaoru tilted her head, "Sola-"   
    "-Shish'tems?" Yahiko finished.   
    Sawyer sweatdropped. "Uh, gomen. For example, our solar system is the sun, and the other planets: *Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn…* etcetera." This time they exchanged glances and nodded. Sawyer sighed and continued, "We went traveling very far distances and found several new races of beings." He turned to Tackets, "*Should I explain the sectors?*"   
    Tackets looked at him like even _he_ didn't know what Sawyer was talking about.   
    Sawyer glared at his stoic partner, "*The trade routes!!* Mou!" He murmured, "*If even you don't get it I'll just skip it…*"   
    "*You like telling history too much,*" was all Tackets said.   
    "You guys are strangers," Yahiko said, "If you're going to try and make us do something for you then you should talk so that we can understand you."   
    Sawyer's smile faded for only a second, "Sou ka… Anyway, Humans decided to explore parts of our galaxy, (there are many solar systems in a galaxy) and we discovered something horrible. On the outskirts of the discovered sectors… um, parts of the galaxy we discovered, a planet that had been devastated by something. There were few living animals and no intelligent life. There were things wrong with the soil that wouldn't allow living things. The planet was dying… So we set up a *space station* in space to monitor the planet, which we named *End*, and watched it.   
    "What we found was that the planet had been brutally attacked by an energy we couldn't name. Now we know what it was. It was life energy," Sawyer spoke slowly and clearly, as if he had rehearsed the speech and he used vocabulary that usually he wasn't capable of. "We traced the paths of energy across a very far distance and came to a second planet that had the same patterns but also had intelligent life living on it. We tried to contact them and ask about what happened but as soon as they got our message they sent out warships and destroyed every human craft there.   
    "Now all we know is that they have been sending out many battleships to hunt and kill any humans they can for no reason. Actually, we also know that the beings, *Enders* are what we call them, are made of the same energy found on End. What is making them so dangerous is the fact that they are made of that energy, which we can use but cannot touch. They can attack us but we cannot attack them.   
    "That is where you come in," he said, looking directly at Kaoru. Kaoru gave him a questioning look. _Me? Why me?_ She thought. As if he had heard her, Sawyer continued, "Only their own type of energy can defeat them. They are a race that are born naturally making what we call 'life energy' while only one in about every five or six billion humans have this ability. You," he pointed to Kaoru, "are one of them!"   
    "Nani?!" Kaoru fell over because of the dramatic conviction.   
    "Oro?" Kenshin just looked kinda confused.   
    "Yeah right…" was Sano's answer. Megumi and Yahiko looked at Sawyer skeptically.   
    "Matte," Kenshin asked, "If this is true… then why would you need someone from the past de gozaruka?"   
    Kaoru sat up from the floor, "Aa, and how did you get here?"   
    Sawyer smiled yet again, but this time there was a hint of sadness. "I'm born from the year 2056," he looked like he was recalling something, "Maybe that's why they chose me to come for our last hope…" he was lucky he got all of those thoughts out in Japanese. "But, the reason is that in the future, there are no reachable *adepts* left."   
    "Adep'su?" Megumi asked.   
    "Someone who is able to make life energy. If we wait for adepts to appear in the future we'll be too late to save the human race from destruction. So we used life energy to go back in time and gather adepts. Since there is no end to history, there is no end to adepts in the past."   
    "Demo, why Kaoru? Couldn't you use someone more useful, smarter and prettier?" Yahiko asked.   
    "Yahiko, when this is over, I'll kill you." Kaoru stated so seriously that Kenshin glanced at her in fear with the rest of the room. She then turned calmly back to Sawyer, "So how did you get here?" she asked skeptically.   
    Sawyer frowned, "Gomen, this is going to be bad speech because I didn't practice to answer." He cleared his throat. "As an example: you have point *A* in time, and you have point *B* in time," he held up his right, and then left hands. "Just like with space, all time exists all the time, so everything is really happening at the same time… *did that make sense?*" he asked Tackets.   
    "*No.*" Tackets stared at him.   
    "*You're no help,*" Sawyer mumbled to himself, "*I'll have to clear this up later… with Roxy.*" He lifted his head back to look at the others. It was so frustrating for him to not be able to say what he was thinking without being comprehendible. "Um, so as long as nothing is in the way… we can use a time machine to bring *A* and *B* together," he brought the tips of his fingers together. "There are problems with this. We can only reach certain times because of *time warps*." He realized what he had said and sweatdropped. _This is so frustrating!_   
    "What's a-"   
    He waved his arms frantically, "A time warp is… a… it- I- um," he paused and thought. "It- you go in it, and come out where you don't want to be. It a time messyupythingy." He smacked his hand against his forehead to resorting to slang. _ARG! I screwed up again!_   
    "Mesa api tingi?" Kaoru asked slowly, a smile creeping at the corner of her mouth.   
    "Matte!!" He thought frantically. "If, in between ei and bi, there's time warp ei, then that will take you into it and make you go to time warp bi, even if that means you skip past or don't reach time bi at all. Do you understand?"   
    -_- "…"   
    "So, we can only reach times by coordinating time warps. There's a time warp that leads to this time about a month ago, and that's how we got here. We've been here for a month, watching you and learning Japanese, and getting ready for this day-"   
    "Well THIS is creepy and familiar," Yahiko glared at Sawyer with a vengeance, remembering the time Saitou was saying things about past battles Kenshin had had up to about Jin-e. He knew all this weird stuff about time couldn't end up with something good.   
    Sawyer glanced at the small kid -Yahiko?- and shrugged at his reaction. "The way time travel works is that when we head back, it will leave us a little more than one month after we started. That's why I must ask you to hurry in making your choice."   
    Sano chuckled, "You're asking her to go with you? Yeah right, this is all a load of shit and I don't know why you want Jo-chan but ya' can't have her."   
    "It's not a lie!! We can prove it to you, you think we would come here without proof?" He started to pull something out from his gi quickly when Kenshin reached for his sword, Sano stood up and everyone else moved back. Sawyer stopped immediately and put his hands up. "I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm only going to pull out my evidence."   
    Slowly Sawyer entered his hand back into his gi and pulled out a flat board of about the size of a notebook with a black screen taking up the majority of space and six buttons lined up under it. He placed the object face up between Tackets and himself and Kenshin-gumi. Kaoru could hear that he let out a shaky breath before continuing. "Please don't be… scared (I don't have a better word) of this. It's a picture of the ship that we came in but it's *holographic*… so…" he pressed the button and immediately light shot out from the black screen that lit up the room to a certain degree. Sawyer turned the plate around and pushed it towards Kaoru.   
    Sano, Kenshin, Megumi and Yahiko all decided to look over Kaoru's shoulder as she held up the plate so that at a different angle one could actually see something than a floating light on a black screen. (It's like how you can't see an lcd screen at certain angles.)   
    They all gasped in unison. As they looked into a seemingly flat piece of plastic the picture that shown inside was like looking into a window and seeing another world on the other side. Within the screen there was a stationary picture… or hologram fully in color of a space ship. It had a simply gray metal covering and a black window across the front. The shape was like a slightly elongated bullet that had fins. Kaoru tilted the slate and inside the view of the ship shifted the slightest bit. Around the ship was an array of stars across dense black space.   
    Megumi touched the screen with a nail in order to assure herself that the object in Kaoru's hand did in fact have a screen that was somehow projecting a three dimensional image on the inside. "Cool…" Yahiko said.   
    Kaoru lifted her head, "What is this?"   
    Sanosuke backed away with panic and anger, "It's that thing! Voodoo! These people are dangerous warlocks! Leave or-"   
    "Maa, maa…" Kenshin sweatdropped and tried to calm Sano, but was nonplussed himself. After some more ranting Sano stood off to the side with his arms crossed defiantly. Kenshin turned back to the strangers with a serious expression. "…" He had tried to say something but failed to think of what he wanted to ask first, _Are you being serious? What is that, and how does it work?_ then he started questioning the fact that they were sane because they weren't well it they thought they were from the future. However, there was the matter of the unexplained slate. Just then, something occurred to Kenshin, "Is this… a trick of light de gozaru?" He waved a hand over the top of the slate. True there were no candles or mirrors or anything and no candles could fit inside the slate but that was his only plausible explanation.   
    Sawyer shook his head, "This is no trick. This is a *holographic picture*. It comes from the future. Would you like me to try to explain?" Sano looked over to the group from a dark corner. He listened but said nothing and didn't move.   
    "Please do," Kenshin said with his blunt polite tone.   
    Sawyer shifted in the way he was sitting. They had all been talking for quite some time. "Light comes in different rays. Some see through people. The machine that takes the holographic picture or *holopic* takes several layers of scans through what the picture is and keeps the information… um," he faltered and had to think his way around what he was saying, "there are the same things in the holopic that show what they saw but in a smaller size."   
    Megumi relieved Kaoru of the slate and held it with two fingers so it faced Sawyer upside down, "So this is your proof?" Kaoru glared.   
    Sawyer finally had a bit of time to think back to what he had spent a month preparing and got back on track with his rehearsed speech. "In a sense… The actual proof if you need more is the ship itself." here was a long pause.   
    "You mean," Yahiko began, "that you have this ship?"   
    "Aa."   
    "To show us?"   
    "Mmhm."   
    "This is real?"   
    "Hai."   
    "Cool!"   
    Kaoru put a restraining hand on Yahiko's head and narrowed her eyes. "So you're serious?"   
    "I'm dead serious."   
    "Oi, fox. I think you should check this guy for delirium," Sano finally said. Kaoru and Megumi turned chibi and put their hands on Sawyer's forehead. There was a comic pause but then Sawyer reached up and grabbed the girls' hands gently to pull them down.   
    "After all this you still don't believe me?"   
    "No-" Sano of course.   
    "Um…" Yahiko.   
    "I'm not sure…" Kaoru.   
    Megumi just reached up for his forehead again to make a point. Kaoru turned to her own deciding factor between yes and no- Kenshin. His opinion meant a lot to her about this. "Kenshin?"   
    Kenshin smiled weakly but seemed troubled by something. "They have made a good case-"   
    "It's witchcraft!"   
    "-and I personally think that you are just quite mistaken and may indeed need mental help de gozaruyo. Shikashi, I see no harm in going to see your 'evidence' and I admit I'm very curious. I don't know where you got these things but I have a feeling we should find out."   
    Kaoru smiled fondly and started to stand. "I'll agree with Kenshin. But we can't go out to wherever into the rain tonight… rather tomorrow would be better." She started to walk out of the room but turned around to finish. "I'll bring everyone tea, Sano- you must be cold. Even though I still think you're crazy everyone is welcome to stay the night." She winked and walked out.   
    Megumi remembered her manners and stood up, "I'll help you Kaoru-chan." She followed the former into the kitchen.   
  
  
I always appreciate comments, and it's a good idea to give me feedback/encouragement so i write faster ^.^ . Email me at BCancelino@aol.com ^.^   
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	2. He's not insane... and he can cook too!

It takes me a long time to write a 13 page chapter... keep that in mind.   
  
* Stuff in stars is in English. *   
Thoughts will be in italics most of the time.   
: Actions are in colons. : (That's where all the fun is ^.^) I know, bu-dum chhh! [MJb is a yaoi fan- reow! NOT of RK yaoi though]   
(this fic is based solely on the anime, and the Revenge arc basically has never happened)   
    DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, it belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and some other people like Jump comics and such. I'm not making any money off of this… unfortunately. :P.   
**Important:** (Like the disclaimer wasn't…) anyway, again I switch perspectives in this chapter ^.^0, another thing that might be confusing is my way of using romanji. You might notice that when the perspective is 3rd person I use the correct spelling/pronunciation of words, but when I'm in first person I write as the person thinks. Notes will be at the bottom.   
  
  
    Sano, Yahiko, Sawyer and Tackets all had to sleep in the main room on the floor while Megumi and Kaoru slept in Kaoru's room and Kenshin and Yahiko slept in their own rooms respectively. Sano didn't trust them not to do some sort of foreign, strange magical killing ritual and so he had forced the three of them to sleep in the same room. The only place that was comfortable for them was the main room.   
    That is why in the morning, when Kaoru walked in on them all she first tripped over Sano's head -and kicked it in retaliation although the chicken STILL didn't wake up- and saw that Tackets was sleeping silently against the shouji and Sawyer was nowhere to be found. However, she did smell something cooking, and she was sure that it wasn't Megumi's work since she had risen earlier than the lady doctor that morning.   
    She was slightly tired from lack of sleep. After she heard everyone go to bed she remained awake and thinking of what these outlandish people were doing in her home and if what they were saying made as little sense as it sounded. Even if it was true she really wasn't sure what they were asking of her. It sounded like they wanted her to come away with them, but that thought left her feeling cold and lonely so she dismissed it as absolutely ridiculous. She felt better that everything would be solved today and then she could sleep her nights away in peace.   
  
  
    Curiously I walked into the kitchen to see what was being cooked for breakfast so early. Even Kenshin usually didn't get up this early, but, my heart leaped, maybe he had been as worried as me and could not sleep as well! I smiled broadly before entering the kitchen and scoured the room for Kenshin. _Maybe_, I thought again, _He would finally remember the gi I had bought him and wear it like he did last night._ I had thought he looked quite handsome in it and was delighted to see him wear it.   
    I did see blue… blue and gray in fact, but to my dismay they were on opposite ends of the male body then they should have been. Saya-san stood near the counter at the moment with his back facing me, humming contentedly. Had I not been lost in my own thoughts, my stupid, girly thoughts, I would have noticed that it couldn't possible have been Kenshin from the start. Saya-san's voice was much deeper compared to the comical rurouni that said 'oro' almost as often as he breathed in. _Sigh, I love that about him…_   
    I blinked. Really, instead of daydreaming I should ask the strange crazy man what he was doing in my kitchen and possibly relieve him of any sharp objects. I took a cautious step towards him. He didn't notice me so approached with less hesitancy. "Ano," I asked softly so as not to startle him too much.   
    Saya-san was much more handsome up front than as he was last night in the gloom and the dark. He had a softly lined face and full lips. His nose and eyes were different. His nose was straight and more pointed than mine, and his eyes much wider. His light skin was clear and he smiled broadly with straight pearly teeth. He was only about five centimeters* shorter than Sano and his hair was similar in color. But Saya-san's hair stood up in a slightly flatter, more controlled way and he wore no bandana. "Ohayo!" he said brightly.   
    "Ohayo…" I responded lamely, trying not to sound too suspicious.   
    I heard a sizzling sound and Saya-san pivoted back to the food. _How is he cooking in here?_ I wondered. "I wanted to repay your kindness for letting us stay," he said slowly. "So I got up very early and went back to my *ship* and," he yawned, "Sorry, I mean ship, and I picked up a small stove with *bacon and eggs*. He stepped to the side to let me see what he was cooking.   
    In one of my frying pans there were six strips of bubbling meat and some yellow fluff. "Beikon to egges wa?"   
    "Hai," he dumped the contents out on a plate. He handed me the plate and some chopsticks, "hai," he said once more and waited me to try the food. I looked at his suspiciously and sniffed the food first but he only laughed at me. The food did smell new and delicious… and I was awful hungry… When I didn't sleep I always felt hungry in the morning. I ate some of the eggs tentatively.   
    "Sugoi!" They were excellent! I started shoveling eggs in my mouth and finished most of them in about twenty seconds.   
    Saya-san laughed heartily and gently removed the plate from my hand; I blushed at my own crudeness. "I'm happy you like them. I'll make them for all of us. It's pretty easy."   
    _Easy?_ I looked up in interest and when I caught Saya-san's eye I looked down and blushed once again. I could feel him smiling kindly at me and he placed a hand on my shoulder so I looked up and tensed a little, always on my guard. His smile faded the slightest bit, but he renewed it before I took much notice, "Would you like me to teach you how to cook this?"   
    I looked shiftily from left to right and then into the man's gray eyes, "If you don't mind…" I implied uncertainly. I then became bolder because he was being so nice about it. I stuck my hand behind my head and laughed nervously then said amiably, "I'm a horrible cook really."   
    Saya-san smiled, "Sou ka? Then who cooks?" he asked slowly. He moved over to the side so that it would be easier for both him and I to work.   
    "Well I try, but usually if we want to eat good food… Kenshin cooks…" I smiled disappointedly. All I ever got in this house were insults; it occurred to me that they might be rubbing off on me.   
    Saya-san glanced at me and seemed resolved to cheer me up. "I'm a bad cook too." He smiled, "But humans are lazy in the future so cooking is easy." We laughed. Even though I still didn't buy that tale about the future it was still funny.   
    Before anyone came looking for me, I had managed to cook enough food for all of us and it didn't even come out badly! Saya-kun had tried to teach me how his 'elechirik s'tovu'** worked and why it needed no fire (thereby preventing many incidents on my account) but he had trouble speaking in Japanese so early in the morning. Bacon was pretty easy to make as he had said. One just lets it cook by itself and turns it over. The eggs took more steps but only two batches became messed up: one undercooked and the other overcooked.   
    All in all it was the best meal I ever made.   
    Yahiko was the first to go searching in food. I figured Sano had stayed up late - until Taketsu-san and Saya-kun had already fallen asleep, which, by Saya-kun's recollection, had been very, very late. When Yahiko saw the food his jaw dropped and he sat down as swiftly as possible to start inhaling.   
    _ I will never teach that child to eat slow! Mou…_ Then something occurred to me, "Yahiko!" I pulled the plate away from him. He started yelling and jumping for it. "You are such a pig! Go and get the others… then you can eat."   
    Yahiko glared at me, then eyed the food hungrily and I knew I had him. "Ugly bitchy teacher…" he mumbled as he turned to leave.   
    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!!!" I held the plate back and aimed…   
    Then suddenly I had no plate. I whirled around and bonked Kenshin over the head for stopping me…   
    Only it wasn't Kenshin, it was Saya-kun. He fell to the floor with a plop, barely keeping the food afloat skillfully and wavered slightly with swirly eyes. I had half expected to hear "Oro?!" Instead I knelt and apologized, "Kya! Saya-kun! Gomen nasai!" I touched the side of his head where a bump had formed and heard him groan. "I'm so sorry!"   
    Saya-kun shook his head. "Iya, daijoubu." He handed me the plate and stood up with difficulty. "Ow."   
    When I saw that he was okay I tilted my head, "Ano, where are you from Saya-kun?" I had never heard the expression, "Ow," before.   
    Saya-kun paused and shook his head before answering, "I'm from *America*." I could tell he held back saying from what time he was from. "*New York, New York*; America." He smiled. "I'm honored to be called 'kun' by you, datte ore wa Sawyer Dominic. Not 'Saya'." The way he spoke made it impossible to be offended by the correction.   
    I tried again, "Saoya?"   
    "Sawyer."   
    "Soiya?"   
    "Close enough, Kamiya-san." I recognized the fact that he was asking if he could call me by a less formal name but I only smiled and asked, "Will you help me bring these out?" Together we brought out the food.   
    In truth I had asked Yahiko to go get the others only because I wanted to see if Kenshin liked my cooking. Yes, he always ate it without complaint, but I knew I was a bad cook and I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to cook for a man like Kenshin… if I ever got a man like Kenshin. Not that I necessarily wanted Kenshin… right? I closed my eyes and sighed.   
    My feelings for Kenshin were in a jumbled mess on the floor next to my feelings about the strangers in my house. Soiya-kun*** seemed like a very nice man and not insane at all. Hell, he could cook better than I could. That said something. Not that I hadn't heard 'insane' among the many strings of nasty nicknames Yahiko delighted in christening me. Kenshin never insulted my cooking, but he didn't compliment it untruthfully either. Should it have made me feel good or bad that he told me the truth at least? Again with the confusion.   
    Soiya-kun and I spread out the food for everyone in the main room. Yahiko had done us the honor of waking up the house quite unceremoniously. A disgruntled Sano sat lazily up and glared at Soiya-kun. Who knows what Yahiko did to wake him up. Tackets stood as I entered and bowed his head before I set down the plates.   
    Sano looked around, "Wow, I always thought that the day I woke up earlier than kitsune would be the day hell froze over."   
    "Bite your tongue," Megumi said rather sleepily upon entering. "Yahiko's screaming for you to wake up woke me up. Are you sure you have a brain in there or is your head so full of junk that you can't even hear through your ears?" She flicked Sano's head. "Besides, that means I actually did wake up earlier than you," she sat and stuck out her tongue.   
    I waited nervously on my feet for Kenshin to come in. I couldn't imagine what was taking him so long. Yahiko was probably still looking for him or something. It was still very early in the morning and even Kenshin could still be sleeping. I leaned back to see if he was coming, "Waiting for Kenshin?" I heard Soiya-kun ask quietly next to me.   
    I shook my head quickly and tried not to blush. "No! Why would I do that? I was just waiting for Yahiko to come back so I could…" I felt at a loss for words. Instead of continuing I simply sat down abruptly and began eating.   
    Just then Yahiko ran in and sat down. "Ikatakimatsu!" He started eating vehemently. I tried not to look around for Kenshin, and I didn't need to for almost immediately I heard, "Ohayo," in a high yet comforting voice.   
    I smiled into my eggs before answering in like. Kenshin sat next to me, in between Soiya-kun and myself. "What food is this?" Kenshin asked as he nimbly picked up some eggs.   
    "Kaoru actually cooked something right for once. But I think it's just 'cause the crazy helped her-" Yahiko tried to say before he was knocked over unconscious by me.   
    Sano stared at his food doubtfully, "Jo-chan's food is already poison, I ain't eating nothing made by her and brought by some freaky man-witch." He pushed the food away; the first time I had ever seen him do that.   
    I sighed, I wasn't going to force Sano to eat my food, if he didn't want to eat it, he would go hungry. _Let 'im_. I took a bite of my own food before trying to watch Kenshin out of the corner of my eye. He had turned to ask Soiya-kun what he was eating and turned back so that I could see his profile. I watched closely as he brought up some bacon to taste, and closed his mouth around it, and then chewed.   
    To my delight Kenshin's eyes widened. He looked at me and smiled with his eyes closed, "This is very good Kaoru-dono de gozaru yo."   
    I beamed despite myself, "Hounto?! I'm glad you like it!" I felt warmth bubble through my chest and make it's way into my cheeks. That had been happening more often lately. My sudden bursts of uncalled for affection aimed at Kenshin almost annoyed me because it made me feel like I was falling for him when I didn't know if I could have him.   
    Kenshin's smile made me feel as if my stomach was melting. "Did Soiya-dono teach you how to make this?"   
    I nodded. "Aa, but it involves an elechirik s'tovu, which I don't really understand. I think I could make it without one, though. I just… don't have a supply of bacon and egges." I leaned forward to address Soiya-kun, "Where are they available?"   
    Soiya-kun had been busy eating and hadn't even bothered to try and translate everyone's conversation early in the morning so he only looked at me confusedly with a full mouth and made the sound, "Mm?"   
    "Where do bacon and egges come from?" I repeated.   
    "Technically, the future…" I glared at him, "Realistically, " he added hastily, "pigs and chickens."   
    "Hm." I thought about where I could get those things. I did notice that the food we were eating wasn't the healthiest thing possible… but at least I could cook it!   
    "Look on the bright side," Megumi added, "You can always have Sanosuke lay a few eggs for you." Everyone turned and waited for Sano's retort, but none came since he was halfway through his second helping of breakfast. We all sweatdropped.   
    "Didn't he say he would never eat my food?" I asked.   
    "Is that my plate?" Yahiko asked after he regained consciousness.   
    "Isn't that caniballism?" Megumi, of course.   
    "De gozaru," Kenshin added.   
    "I was hungry," Sano said in between bites angrily. "I also say that you guys weren't dropping like flies after eating the food so I figured it's not lethal."   
    "That's what I always say about Kaoru's cooking! 'What doesn't kill us makes us stronger!'" He patted his chest proudly.   
    Bubbling, mirthful laughter echoed from behind Kenshin. "You guys are so funny… just living your lives," Soiya-kun stated. "I have never met such a beautiful family." He smiled at us all.   
    Needless to say I felt flattered that he felt that way. It wasn't that I cared so much about his opinion as I did the fact that I felt the same way. So what if the word 'beautiful' didn't cross my mind? The feeling was there. These people were the best I ever had. I couldn't help but become a bit nostalgic about my lonely days by myself.   
    Everyday was torture, knowing that I had no one to share my life with. Genzai-sensei was around, but he also had his patients and a job. I wasn't close to any of my students to the point where any of them would hang around with me as a friend. I had almost no girl friends except Tae… and she was always busy at the restaurant. My father and mother were dead, and Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan were too young to understand anything I was going through. I knew what loss was. I had felt pain every time I saw people my age simply hanging out, or couples walking together. I watched little girls play with their fathers and mothers and siblings remembering the days when I would practice relentlessly under my father's direction.   
    My father had been strict and rather cold towards me to the point where even though he was around, after my mother died I still felt alone. When my mother was alive she seemed as cold and distant towards my father as he was towards me. She was kind and selfless but left my life much too early. Father didn't even mourn with me… he mourned his own way, separately… but I was always alone after my father died, for as long as I could remember up until the point when I met Kenshin.   
    Not many respectable males of Tokyo's society could run a successful dojo… The fact that I was a poor, alone, female who ran a dojo successfully, on my own, that didn't even teach some one how to use a sword, proved something. In fact it was all I had. There was nothing, no one else in my life worth living for. That's why I had run out to face the Hitokiri Battousai on my own (not that I had a choice). I had lost my students… the only people I could count on being around me, even if we weren't so close. And I had lost my dojo… my only source of enjoyment and empowerment that kept me believing that I had something to look forward to.   
    Kenshin and I never outright discussed such details of my feelings… but he knew that I had suffered. I had once asked him if that was why he stayed, because he had seen that I had nothing left. He had answered, in a very Kenshin-like way: "Hanbun". He then explained that the other half of him had also needed company. It was the perfect thing to say and it still made me happy when I thought of it.   
    Everyone had continued eating my food while I was still recapping on my lonely life. _But,_ I chided myself, _that's stupid. I should enjoy my life as it is right now… while all of this still lasts,_ I thought bitterly of the task we were to perform after breakfast.   
    I reawakened from my thoughts in time to hear, "Maybe we _should_ go to the future if Kaoru's gonna be able to actually cook something edible." Even though it should have been a funny comment that caused me to make some projectile object hit Yahiko upside the head, it was actually sobering and the room quieted.   
    "I think we should get going, ne?"   
  
    They walked with shuffling feet behind Sawyer and Tackets. The slow, lazy and forcibly relaxed steps of Kenshin-gumi seemed to be resilient and meant to prove how confident they all were that the slab from the previous night was a trick, that there would be no ship hidden in the wilderness and the story that the two strangers made up could not possibly be true.   
    Even though their feet were casual, what went on above the ankles was by no means calm. Kenshin, who did not believe them, and Sano, who was sure they were being led into a cult where they would be ambushed, were both tense and ready for action. Kaoru was starting to doubt herself. This was not due to feeling unsafe - she felt extremely safe with her family.   
    Sawyer had called it her _beautiful_ family. He certainly didn't act insane. Perhaps she was naïve and trusting and she knew it; but still she could not ignore the instinctual feeling that Sawyer was less insane than any given member of her family.   
    Even though he did not know Japanese that well he had learned it in only a month, and in his speech, crazy as it might sound, he had spoken clearly and intelligently. He was a caring person, with plenty of consideration for others as far as she could tell, and he was doing no harm to anyone so far. Once this matter of a 'ship' was settled… That brought up her doubts again.   
    Suppose he did have a ship. When she really thought about it, his story made it sound possible indeed for him to actually be here enlisting her help. Then again, that was ridiculous. She tried to convince herself of all the things she knew she should be thinking but that only caused the doubt to grow.   
    Hypothetically, if these people were for real, what would she do was the question that was really bothering her. She could even handle being looked down on by everyone for believing but what would she _do_? Such thoughts circled her mind as they trudged down a path that was pretty widely cleared within a miniature field area.   
    Yahiko looked up at the hazy gray-blue sky that hued as evidence of the previous night's rainfall. Shamelessly, he thought of what it would be like to really be able to sail in the sky, like a ship, or to launch a rocket, like what he was reading about. _So the guy's nutso,_ he figured. _Even I could take him with my bokken. And who cares as long as I get to fly the ship?_   
    Megumi did not really need to pay attention to where they were headed so she allowed her mind to wander. Of course, she should have reprimanded herself for thinking of Sanosuke because of course; she had better things to think about. But still, as she gave a sidelong glance to the paranoid idiot, he had potential. They weren't together as of yet but she was starting to see where this would be going. They would spend more and more time together until something physical happened and then he would either be attached to her like an extra limb or leave her alone until he needed something such as money, or wanted something.   
    Such was the bitter and dark manner in which she conducted her thoughts on relationships. It was not that she would not want to have something with the chicken; it was just that he was so immature. She would have to be as blind as Kenshin was (metaphorically speaking of his skills with relationships) to not realize that Sano was a great catch. He was strong, stubborn, joyous and endearing, and he was obviously a hunk. The attraction was there, but what, she wondered, would that be followed up with?   
    She had been hurt before by immature men who couldn't hold a relationship if it were strapped to their 'manhood' before. There was so much pain and loss between Aizu and the Kamiya dojo that she had erected walls around herself in the form of cool, witty eyes and a fiery tongue. Not that she was heartless… but virtually untouchable. Kenshin was the first person for whom she broke down those walls, therefore, when she was hurt once again she had become even more wary to men, although she still liked to tease them. ^.-   
    Kenshin studied the ki around him and focused particularly on a certain crafty morning chef who had been able to do the impossible - teach Kaoru how to cook. Sawyer's ki, he decided, was by no means threatening at all, but Sawyer was no weakling. Kenshin didn't know in what yet, but Sawyer was good at something. He observed the taller man's body and decided it was not muscled enough for something such as kenpo or street fighting. Kenshin also got the feeling that if you gave the guy a sword he would probably hurt himself with it before he figured out how to unsheathe it.   
    There was a sudden mysterious rise in the stranger's ki. That could indicate any number of things but Kenshin assumed that he had suddenly become nervous. Kenshin checked around; there was nothing there. He wondered why Sawyer was so nervous then. How curious.   
    Sawyer sighed and refrained from smacking himself in the head with his palm. He had just been to the ship that morning! How could he possibly have already lost it? There was only one road to follow and he was looking for a huge metal, time traveling ship! How hard could that be? He reprimanded himself.   
    In a last desperate measure, he turned to Tackets, "*Hey, do you remember where I left the ship?*" he asked lowly.   
    "*You LOST the ship?" Tacket's whisper-yelled back.   
    "*The ship lost us,*" Sawyer joked.   
    "*I can't believe this, it's _your_ ship for chrissake.*"   
    "*Some big help you are,*" Sawyer mumbled. Not for the first time he wished he had his old partner, Roxanne back with him. She would know where the ship was, she would have soothed the nerves of that weird chicken man during the night in order to make the close quarters breathable and most of all, she would have known Japanese by now!   
    Oh, how grateful Sawyer would have been if Tackets could have SAID something last night that was helpful. It almost just seemed like Tackets was a stoic old geezer that should not be talked to lest he die of the exertion of making an effort to respond in Japanese. He was not stoic because he was stoic; he was stoic because Japanese was lost on him!   
    Tackets, he considered, would be a more bearable companion on the way back to the future with the very charming Ms. Kamiya with him. She could help him improve his Japanese and he would teach her how to cook other food stuffs that appeared after her time such as soup that came in a can… and soup that you only had to add boiling water to… and microheaters, hydroveggies and all those "bachelor's cookbook" foods. He would not have to be alone in complaining about Tackets' snoring and by the look of her dojo, the woman might make Tackets clean his side of the room.   
    At a glance, Sawyer's eye caught on a distinctly gnarled tree that he had used as a mark before to remember where the ship was. He didn't feel so bad that he had lost the ship. The ship wouldn't be easy to spot with the camou-netting anyway, but the prospect of really not being able to find the ship made him extremely nervous for, how would Ms. Kamiya respond to that? "Oh, yes, I'm quite sure that there's a ship that travels through time… you just have to trust me because I cant find it at the moment. You see, its covered in a special net that hides it from all eyes and if you'll just be a little patient, perhaps let me stay at your house and eat your food for another night…" Yea, that sounded like real reliable reason as to why he 'couldn't find the ship'. His sarcastic side commented.   
    The gnarled tree calmed him though. All he needed to do was to head east for only another 50 meters.   
  
    After we turned east we only walked for a little longer before Soiya-dono began to pull something out of his gi. Instantly Sano and I were on either side of him although I had not yet put my hand on my sword hilt. The man sweatdropped and slowly pulled out a small black object in the shape of a little square.   
    He held it in his fingers and pressed a small button on the top of the device. There was the cute sound of: "Beep! Beep!" before a cluster of unfriendly looking trees before us suddenly shimmered and disappeared to reveal a large silver blur covered with black netting.   
    My heart sank so that my stomach felt a pressured sensation. The possibility that it had been true- Soiya-dono's story, it was true. I heard a thump and a familiar gasp. I looked to Megumi-dono who had abruptly sat and Kaoru-dono who had emitted the gasp I heard. I felt another twang of worry, how would Kaoru-dono take this? I looked back to the ship… How would I take this?   
    From what I understood of last night, the existence of this ship meant that Kaoru-dono's help was needed in the future. It still was not sinking in, this information and understanding only floated on the sea of consciousness I held at the moment. That ship simply couldn't be there; it didn't exist. I stared at the ship and only dimly wondered how the others were reacting.   
    "S-sugoi…" Yahiko blurted. That word pretty much summed it all up de gozaru yo, I thought bitterly. In a flash the reality of the large metal machine before me hit me. I blinked, "Oro!" finally escaped my mouth of it's own accord.   
    I surveyed the large… ship. It was a smooth bullet-like object made completely of a silver metal that sparkled in the sunlight with the exception of the window at the point that was too high for me to see into. From my angle there was only one sharp triangular wing visible but I could assume that the… thing… ship, was symmetrical and therefore had a wing on the other side. As the utter reality of the ship before me continued to dig into my conscious I could see more clearly that it was not just bullet shaped. The ship was slightly flattened and the end flared out. There was a bulbous middle section to the ship I hadn't noticed before that had long slits along its diagonal arches.   
    No one had spoken in long minutes so Soiya-dono took it upon himself to start. "Well," he waved his arm, "This is it." With that remark he seemed once again at a loss for words. He looked from one side to the other in a lonely gesture and then continued, "Um. This is my proof." He shifted to from one foot to another uneasily. I would have said something, but I could think of nothing. Soiya-dono did his best, "The proof I'm from the future…" he trailed off this time.   
    I needed to respond somehow to that hateful word "future". "Oroooo…" I trailed off myself.   
    Kaoru-dono looked over blinked at me helplessly. I felt my chest constrict a little at the look that said, "Help," when I could do nothing. For that look I would make everything disappear, the ship, Soiya-dono and Tackets-dono, if only I could. I almost caused me physical pain to see her so distressed. Anything to make that look disappear!   
    "So?" Sano asked obnoxiously. I thanked him silently for saying one of the many things I was feeling. Really, what were we to do? It was a ship… -and?   
    "So… we need Kamiya-san's help," Dom tried. _Oh, yeah,_ my heart sank. At least with that said we were getting somewhere.   
    "What's that supposed to mean?" Kaoru-dono asked as if she was lost and distracted.   
    Soiya-dono looked surprised at her tone, "You… we're asking you to come with us," he said more quietly.   
    Now that none of us could deny the truth, retold information struck a new chord in the hearts of us all visibly. Kaoru-dono gave a start, but that was all I noticed until I fully considered what all this meant.   
    From the way he was talking, Soiya-dono was giving Kaoru-dono a choice. She _could_ stay at the dojo and Soiya-dono would leave without her or she could go with him and save humanity.   
    Unfortunately, in all the time I had known her, Kaoru-dono was never one to turn down people in need. Look at Yahiko, or how Sano mooches off her, or me. The woman is full to the brim with stubborn morality and she always (whether I liked it or not) did what was right. It was something I loved about her, and- wait- I didn't just… nah. The chances of her refusing Soiya-dono were slim. She might not want to leave the dojo, but I would bet my sakabatou she would. Or… there was always the possibility that if she wouldn't-   
    "You don't have to decide right now of course!" Soiya-done said hastily. I looked to Kaoru-dono to see what had made him interrupt my thoughts. Kaoru-dono had gone ghostly pale and nodded sharply.   
    "Can I see the inside?" Yahiko asked with quelled excitement.   
    Soiya-dono smiled fondly at Yahiko. It was a familiar smile. It was at that moment, with dimming colors in my mind and a swirling view of what was happening, that I realized Soiya-dono smiled exactly like I did when I was putting up a front. I hadn't seen a genuine smile out of him the whole time he had been around. Given that wasn't very long, but it was even more confusing because he smiled so _much_.   
    Soiya-dono signaled for Taketsu-dono's help and went over to where a stake of some sort was driven into the ground. At the same time they pressed in a code into the side of the stake and the net that covered and hid the large ship when… (turned on? I don't know.) flew up and snapped around the back, beyond view.   
    The ship was easier to see now. I could see streamlines running from above the wings horizontally all the way to the back of the ship. The sphere was not in the middle of the ship, but at the very rear and the engines flared out behind it.   
    Soiya-dono took his small object with buttons once again and flipped it over. On the other side there were two buttons. He pressed them in sequence and I heard a quaint beep. Soiya-dono smiled with pleasure. "I did it myself," he held up the small black piece. "In my time, that's the sound things made when they stopped being locked." He pointed the device back at his ship and put in another sequence.   
    We all gave a start as the bottom of the ship hissed with the compression of air and a circle of silver metal descended from the belly of the ship being held with a pole. There were also two rails and it didn't take me long to realize that this was the way a person got into the ship. The cut circle reached the ground and I cast a glance at Kaoru-dono.   
    "Would you all come in?" Soiya-dono asked and Kaoru-dono took a step forward so that I could not see her face.   
    "I will." Kaoru-dono said shortly but not rudely. Her steps were forced as she made her way towards the ship. I was, of course, right behind her and responded in like.   
    Yahiko ran ahead and speculated about the descending platform. Before I started to examine the ship or the platform I stole a glance at Sano- who was helping Megumi up. Content that all was as well as it could be, I sped my pace so that I could be next to Kaoru-dono.   
  
  
  
*I used centimeters because I was too lazy to look up the measurement they used. Yea, I'm American, but I need to know the metric system anyway and that's what everyone else uses so… :shrug: I know people from other countries read on ff.net.   
    ** 'elechirik s'tovu' for those of you who know nothing about the Japanese alphabet lemme help ya out. Or maybe ya know some but not this. Well: electric. The Japanese have a sound 'e' and 're' that doubles as 'le'. So that's 'ele'.   
    I used 'chi' for the 'ct' sound because I think that it's more of a 'tri' sound, which leaves me wanting to use 'ti' but there is no 'ti' in Japanese. There's: ta chi tsu te to, for the 't' section. 'Chi' is in the place of 'ti', and as an added bonus it saves me from adding 'k-something'. That's 'elechi'.   
    'rik' was easy. Theres 'ri' and then there's 'ku' in which the 'u' sound is sometimes omitted. When I omit vowels (usually 'u's like in ku and su) I put and apostrophe, which is why I wrote "**s'**tovu", but in this case since it was at the end and omitting 'u' in 'ku' is pretty common, (like in kuso, for which people write k'so), I simply didn't put an apostrophe.   
    Well I probably only confused you more, sorry. But there was reasoning!!! Reasoning damnit!!! You want to correct my mistakes, review or something, I'm cool with it. And I want to say that I don't know much Japanese, I can read it to a certain extent but don't really comprehend and the only reason I know all this random stuff is cause I decided to learn katakana and hiragana one summer. I'm such a butt… I should have started learning Japanese first. But the first step in learning a language is learning the alphabet, right? Ack, just forget I said anything, mou.   
    *** My reasoning behind calling him "Soiya-kun" It's the closest I can get with romanji. It's either I call him that or, "Soiyaru-kun" and I think that sounds stupid. (Gosh I hope none of you are named that, My name's dumb too!!! I'm sorry!) For those of you that don't know the difference between 'san' and 'kun' you must be new at this anime thing… Maybe I'll put up a dictionary next chapter, but only if you people need it.   
    Do you?  
-MaraJadeblu (Review!) 


	3. So, are we leaving or not? Part I

Oh! Who wrote vocab, I DID! :does a little dance.   
  
* Stuff in stars is in English. *   
Thoughts will be in italics most of the time.   
: Actions are in colons. : (That's where all the fun is ^.^) I know, bu-dum chhh! [MJb is a yaoi fan- reow! NOT of RK yaoi though]   
(this fic is based solely on the anime, and the Revenge arc basically has never happened)   
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, it belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and some other people like Jump comics and such. I'm not making any money off of this… unfortunately. :P.   
  
Vocab for this chapter ^.^x :  
Soushite- in this case it means: 'and- , and…?'   
Aa- mostly masculine affirmative.   
Shouji- paper door thing.   
Hakama and gi- gi is the shirt/robe kenjustu people wear and hakama is the set o' pants that tie around the gi.   
Ja matte ne- see ya' later, right?   
You should know 'dono, san, kun, and chan' by now if you don't it's gonna be explained in earlier chapter rewrites.   
  
  
    I walked numbly up the steps of my home, open and shut the shouji, walked, turned a corner, walked, turned, opened my shouji and closed it behind me. Good, I had made it without being hounded and disturbed. I couldn't deal with that right now. How is it possible to be so tired and drained when it was only about noon?   
    I started to undress so that I could get into my hakama and gi and teach Yahiko. My mind kept flashing back to what had happened at the ship in only a couple of hours time.   
    _Everything almost seemed like a blur then but it was clearer to me now,_ I thought. _We were raised up into the ship and I was almost convinced he would take me right then and there. I realize now that I was delusional to think such a thing. However, it was made even more terrifying by the twist that the platform did when it locked into place loudly. Like the gate of a prison closing._   
    Soiya-kun then gave us all a tour of his ship and explained things as best he could in Japanese. When he was finally very exasperated with trying to talk correctly and not being able to he pulled out a large device called a *translator*. I put one earpiece in my ear and the wire led to a large box with many buttons. Soiya-kun put the other end in his ear and when he said the translator was finally working well he explained more slowly what was going on.   
    It was different this time. More was understood and the factor of doubt was gone since we were sitting inside the ship. When I translated back yet again for my friends I saw it easier to understand if split into parts.   
  
    _"First, humans discovered *jump space*. The concept is that in space there is nothing, so substance. So, virtually, matter can be brought together simultaneously without interference." She didn't say anything about the universe expanding because it made no sense even to her. "So even if places are far away, the actual traveling distance is only the space between two substances and space doesn't count. He says it still takes some time to travel because there are bits of substance floating around and they slow down travel." Everyone understood the general concept pretty well. Sano mostly didn't care to understand and only wanted to know what was going on with the possibility of me leaving.   
    "The ability to travel quickly across space led to the discovery of trade routes between different sola shish'tems and other races of intelligent life. None of them had come to Earth because there is a law against introducing new technology to races that did not discover the trade routes."   
    "So what?" Sano asked.   
    Kaoru shushed him, "This is important, because since Earth was new to the *IGTF* or *Inter-Galactic Trade Federation*" she then did her best to translate, "we weren't making as much money as other races that were involved. Being the new guy, we were at the 'bottom of the food chain' so to speak. Instead of the long grueling process of working our way up while acquiring new technology we chose to explore the frontier of the IGTF territory.   
    "Like he said the other night, humans came across a devastated planet and set up a space station in its orbit to monitor it." Kenshin seemed to suddenly retreat into deep thought. "They found life energy in the soil and realized that it was the first material they found that they could make money from. It was also a form of energy that could revolutionize energy consumption. So a few explorations were done to find the planet that produces the energy. When the explorers sent messages to the planet that was found there was no reply. They decided to go down to the uninhabited planet's surface and when they did several enemy ships launched from the planet and destroyed all our explorer ships." Her voice faltered, "About 6,000 people died.   
    Sawyer then started rattling off casualties, which Kaoru repeated sadly, "They attacked the space station set up around End: 17,000 scientists and inhabitants killed. The fleet with them was completely obliterated: 60,000. They attacked the next close human space colony, 32,000 dead and 4,000 escaped. That's when their fleet split and they attacked another station with 12,000 dead and 2,000 escapees. They split once again and started skirmishes along the IGTF frontier. Since the last major attack there have been over 30 battles between human and ender and about 20,000 deaths. The death count is over 150,000 and climbing…"
_   
  
    _150,000_, I thought. My eyes started to water. _150,000 lives… just like mine, each individual… and for no reason._   
  
    _She continued translating for her friends, "After the attack on the fleet it took years for the Enders to attack the next colony. Within that time the concept of adepts was formed and adepts were gathered from all over… all two of them. Both went to the space colony nearest the last attack and helped the four thousand escape."_   
  
    Just two adep'su could save 4,000 lives… only two. I imagined what I might be able to do.   
  
    _Dom looked straight at Kaoru and seemed only to talk to her for a bit, "This is where we come in; this is where you are needed. New weapons that use life energy as the attacking agent are effective against Enders. Our main weapon against their ships and defense against their attacks is a large cannon that is created of amplified life energy and chemicals causing explosions. Our job is to be on call to fuel it with the life energy our bodies produce and to regularly store our life energy for the cannon to use along with us. If the necessity arises we must be able to face an ender head on and battle him with portable weapons fueled by our life energy.   
    "We-" she found it hard to translate, "We need your help. To this day there are only twenty-eight adepts, all of which are from the past. You would come to the largest protected colony on the frontier that has thirteen adepts of it's own and you would make fourteen. It's not as easy as it seems, thirteen may seem like a lot when only two can save thousands but they are constantly leant out to envoys and trade ships of importance. Soshite…" Kaoru did not translate the next part. She didn't want to worry her friends.
_   
  
    "Soshite," I said out loud, now that I could, "This is war… and people die." I felt better finally saying it, even if I was still keeping the statement to myself. At least I could say it, and it could hang in the air so I could face it without the comment weighing on my already heavy heart.   
    I could die there. Maybe I would only be gone years, but that is on the condition that I live through the war. Where would that leave my friends? Where would that leave Kenshin? What about Yahiko? What would happen if I died?   
  
    _Sawyer noticed lack of translation but continued like he hadn't. Sawyer wasn't the only one who noticed. Kenshin was the first to prod Kaoru, "Soshite?" Sawyer quieted once more.   
    She played dumb as quick as possible, "Did I say something?"   
    There was a pause before the narration continued.
_   
  
    Why didn't I say anything? Its not like I have to worry about them knowing I might die, no one says I'm going. In fact I don't expect or want to go. And yet…   
  
    _"We need every hand we can get. The help is necessary for human survival. We see that their goal is to push into the frontier and they are doing a good job. With only twenty-eight people able to fight against a whole race there's no way we can cover all the bases. The colony we would be going to is the most strategically important and both sides know it. In the event that the enders attack with full force, even with a full supply of life energy and thirteen adepts we would loose. We wouldn't be able to refuel fast enough and then everything would fall.   
    "Maybe you don't see the difference between thirteen and fourteen but if we do not recover every adept we can then the number will decrease instead of increase. Please concede to help us." Kenshin cocked his head up and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. 
_   
  
    I could see, hear and feel the desperation of how I was needed and had a pretty clear picture of why. If I said no, and the next adept said no and so on, there would be no adepts. It would be nothing but unendingly selfish of me to decline but… what about my responsibilities here? I honestly didn't think I was strong enough to leave my whole new family to join a highly risky war and… and be alone again.   
    _What am I thinking about?_ I thought with a refreshing smile. _I'm in here to change so I can go and train Yahiko._ I took two enthused steps and touched the shouji. I had touched that shouji so many times… I had lived in this house for so many years; plenty of them were alone. But this room I had always been alone in, only me. Now when I stepped out of this room I had a family to watch out for. I had a family once again.   
    My hand fell to my side and my pretend smile disappeared. _But why? I'm not going anywhere._ I told myself again. The thought gave me strength to open my shouji but that strength faded with that thought. Suddenly, even though my shouji was open I still felt alone, as if I was alone already…   
    My feet were feeling like lead and the step I took forward took as much effort as I could muster. Perhaps it would be better if I didn't teach Yahiko today. I didn't have enough energy. Yes, I resolved, that's what I would tell him. I felt more like thinking now then I did teaching.   
    It would be wrong of me to worry them all by looking so depressed so I put on the best smile I could and walked outside to talk to Yahiko. Yahiko had a broom in hand, but instead of cleaning with it he seemed to be thinking. He didn't notice me at first.   
    Being outside made me realize that the whole house had a melancholy feel to it. There was no sound of children laughing, food cooking, Sano and Megumi arguing, Kenshin doing laundry, Yahiko complaining (hearing him clean willingly would have been more disturbing, I decided), Sano and Yahiko arguing, Sano and Yahiko fighting or Sano complaining. I heard the sad swirl of wind and leaves and smelt the silence in the air with tangibility. Even out in the open with Yahiko there I still felt alone, everything creaked with loneliness: trees, home and dojo.   
    "Yahiko," his name felt dead on my tongue and disappeared into the thickness of air. I tried to put a scolding tone into my voice, "Yahiko, don't just stand around. If you're gonna clean, clean." Did that sound like me? I hoped it did.   
    "I was waiting for you to stop fawning over yourself so you could teach me," the way he said this made me think that maybe he was a better actor than I.   
    "Well that's too bad; you had better clean because I'm not out hear to teach you. I'm going for a walk."   
    "A walk?" Yahiko whined. "Why the hell'd ya wanna do that for?"   
    "Why would I wanna teach you for? I'm going for a walk to think."   
    "You _think?_"   
    Normally it struck me that I would have hit him with something, but I was too grateful to him for not saying anything and helping me pretend everything was okay. Of course, by not hitting him there was an awkward pause. What does one do besides hit the offender in this case?   
    Change the subject.   
    "Where's Kenshin?" I asked instinctively. He wasn't doing laundry and I didn't recall us needing anything from the market…   
    Yahiko sighed, "I think he went off to 'think'… or talk to that - guy." Now I could tell Yahiko was making an effort not to mention what was going on for my sake.   
    In any circumstance the best I could do was drop the conversation and leave. "Don't worry about cleaning, you can go to the Akabeko and help out if you want. Ja matte ne." I started walking out of the side of the dojo.   
    Yahiko was speechless; all he managed was a strangled and disbelieving, "A-aa." After I had continued walking away I heard the faint sound of a broom against stone.   
    I decided to walk along the small path in between the dojo and the river and woods. Now that I was alone my pathetic mask dropped like a stone. I walked along and soon became nostalgic. See, that was where I welcomed Kenshin home, and that was where my mother used to plant flowers, and there is where I met the first boy I had a crush on, and that's- that's the best place to watch fireflies in the summer. That was where Kenshin had said goodbye to me.   
    It didn't hurt as much to think of it now, but a fresh new wave of loneliness from the past joined the surf where loneliness already lay. It seemed strange to think of it now, almost as if Kenshin and I had switched positions. Is this what he felt when he had to choose between staying and leaving? What would I choose?   
    My mind laughed at me, **You're even considering going?! Hah! You know that's not going to happen.** However…   
  
    _"150,000 and climbing."_   
  
    To feel what Kenshin felt… is different than the conception of thinking I knew what Kenshin felt. I thought I understood how hard it was for him to leave… but feeling it was different. Kenshin had at least _tried_ to hold us all at arms length while trying to seem like he wasn't, and he failed. I, a lonely, pathetic tomboy, orphaned and without family or students, had welcomed a 'rurouni' samurai, a street kid, and a gangster into my family and home with open arms. For the first time ever it occurred to me what a foolish thing that was to do, not that I regretted a second of it. But it was careless of me to put my feelings on the line for several strangers just to fill up the emptiness and suffering I was going through. Now my mistake came back and bit me in the ass.   
    Several times I had been afraid that Kenshin or Yahiko or Sano would die… those were times I realized how much it would hurt to live without them, whenever the idea that they were already lost crossed my mind. I had invested much of my love and devotion into my little bunch of warriors. It never occurred to me that I would be the one to be lost, the one to ever leave.   
    Sometimes it occurred to me that if I died, it would be a great loss to my makeshift family. But on the whole it never occurred to me that we would loose each other and I would be alone again.   
    Cold fear struck me at the thought of how Kenshin would react to something like my death. But there was a seeping disturbance in this new threat. Would my family hold out for me if I were gone? Would Kenshin stick around? No, I knew he would never leave Yahiko… he might even wait for me. What if something terrible happened in the meantime and he _had_ to leave again? What would Yahiko do?   
    What would Yahiko do in general, with me gone? There would be no one to teach him Kamiya Kasshin Ryu and I knew Kenshin still would not take him as a student. He might get a job at the Akabeko to do what? Support Kenshin? When Yahiko takes on a job to support Kenshin, that is the day Kenshin would leave. Yahiko's skills with swordsmanship would be wasted and what would he amount to?   
    What would Sano eat?   
    I reconsidered… Kenshin's cooking.   
    But how would Kenshin pay for cooking ingredients? How would Kenshin pay for anything? Perchance he and Yahiko would go off wandering together, being unable to support themselves, instead of waiting for me to return? Megumi would go back to Aizu and Sano might go with her… and then I would once again be alone.   
    I could leave with all the promises in the world of them waiting for me a couple of years, putting all their lives on hold for me… but then, then I would return to an empty house and a studentless dojo. Tears sprung to my eyes. Families shouldn't be this easy to loose. Then again, most families didn't go through everything we went through. But I had already lost my family twice: my parents and my students, and a third time was so uncommon it seemed like the world could very well be out to get me.   
    This is all not to mention how I would live in the future. In addition to possibly coming home to emptiness and bare rooms (and dirty laundry), I would have to live indefinite years in the future where no one knew my language, I understood nothing and I knew no one. I would be there for years… years of isolation and loneliness. Hadn't I suffered enough?   
    What if I wasn't there for months? I shielded my eyes from the sun's glare. What if I died there during the war? That cold fear I managed to brush away before bounded back. It seemed clearer now that Kenshin would find a way not to leave the dojo in order to keep a promise. But if I were to go, what would I tell him? 'Wait four years and if I'm not back by then forget about me'? I hadn't mentioned my own death before. If I died what would happen to Kenshin, would the uncertainty be more harmful than the knowledge of my death. How long would he wait before he gave up on my life, and how would he handle it? Would he wait forever and pine away or consider me dead and slip into a state of depression.   
    Something else that had never occurred to me, would it not hurt _me_ more if he just forgot about me easily and continued with his life? After all, what did I mean to him? The way I thought, it made it sound like we were in love or something. I mean, jeez, Kaoru, the guy could probably live without you. He never said that you meant anything more than a good friend to him. The word 'sister' was never used but definitely implied. My bitter heart stung at that.   
    Isn't it horrible that I would feel better if he suffered a little? If I really loved h-   
    Nevermind. I can't think of that now, now I have to decide.   
    Would my own happiness mean more to me then the happiness of the entire human race? The fact that I value my families lives so much… should that mean that I choose their security over the lives of millions of others? Was it more about my own security?   
  
    _"150,000 and climbing."_   
  
    For what I could make of it, if the Enders pushed back the IGTF barrier and started to attack human settlements, that number could rise into the millions very quickly.   
  
    _"We need every hand we can get. The help is necessary for human survival."_   
  
    Could I be so selfish?   
  
    _"150,000 and climbing."_   
  
    The only reason the number wasn't higher was because more humans hadn't settled past the frontier. I noticed how the number increased as the Enders advanced. Every day that I took to make a decision took a day away from my being able to help. And the longer it took me to help, the longer Enders had to reach the next colony.   
    I was kidding myself if I believed I could lead a happy life after throwing aside my every belief on what is right for my own selfish reasons. And it wasn't as if everything would go back to normal. If I refused them, then everything Kamiya Kasshin Ryu accomplished would be tainted. Whenever I used it for good it would always be with the knowledge that it was because it was a good I could afford to do, and not because it was what was right. Would what little respect Yahiko had for me be lost?   
    What would Kenshin think of me?   
    But no, if I was going to make this decision, the consequences had to be on me. I couldn't blame my decision on Yahiko or Kenshin, and it certainly wouldn't mean as much if I were just throwing my life away for their approval. It was very tempting… to share the responsibility… to try and gain their respect and secure their love and loyalty with selflessness, but that wasn't selflessness at all. That was lying, and childishness, and the most selfish thing that could be done, for then I would be taking myself away from them just because I wanted their approval, and securing their love in the process.   
    I took a deep breath, when had I started crying? I wiped my tears away, but magically they would keep coming.   
    So I would suffer once again.   
    So I might loose everything.   
    But I just might, _just might_, make a difference.   
    If only the tears would stop.   
  
    Kaoru took some time to stop herself from crying before returning to the dojo but to no avail. She felt broken and used, twisted and rung out like a rag and utterly without the strength she seemed to be gathering in order to keep her mask on as she passed Yahiko.   
    She tried to pass him quickly and hoped he wouldn't ask her anything before she became numb once more and the tears would stop. Yahiko somehow took the hint, maybe from the air of depression and resistance Kaoru was giving off, not to say anything and stared very hard down at the spot he had been sweeping for twenty minutes when he could have gone to the Akabeko.   
    Kaoru walked briskly up the steps as she felt the familiar sting the unshed tears were giving her before they released. She thanked Yahiko for his silence and noticed that Kenshin was still not back yet. It was better that way. Kenshin would not have left her alone until she broke out into tears right in front of him and then he would not have left her alone until they stopped. That was no good; that gave her no chance to heal.   
    Thankfully she reached her room, flung open her shouji, and in one movement closed it as he sank to her knees and sobbed into her futon. She hated crying although she did it frequently. It gave her such a strained, painful feeling in the chest. Her body racked with sobs, she thought of how crying in front of her father had scared her more than anything else for the first ten years of her conscious life. She cried when she really felt pained or depressed. It was different to sob then it was when only a couple of crystal beads rushed down her face. She had only sobbed twice in the time of meeting Kenshin: when she lost all her students right before she met Kenshin, and when Kenshin said goodbye to her.   
    She admitted the fact that she was a crybaby, so to speak, but that was only what people saw. Her heart felt sobs were a rare occasion indeed.   
    It didn't feel like a release, it felt worse.   
  
    Kenshin hadn't really let himself feel the consequences of anything that had happened the whole day. So he told Yahiko he was going to go and think about everything, and possibly go see "Soiya-dono".   
    There were two reasons that Kenshin needed to speak to Sawyer, and two reasons for him to need to think.   
    The first was that there were many holes in the explanation that Sawyer gave by Kenshin's understanding. Not all of them had immediate effects on the situation at hand so he would think of those later. The behavior of Sawyer sparked something in his mind. Sawyer was _very_ passionate about his job in recruiting adepts. Passionate people don't just give up if something doesn't work out; they pursue it. Sawyer never once openly discussed Kaoru's choice in the matter. Supposedly she had a choice, but Sawyer only talked of what was to happen if she said yes. He had "given her the better of two days to answer".   
    Then there was the whole issue of what she would be doing there. He had caught her pause with the "soshite" incident and knew exactly what it meant. Besides all of the things Sawyer described, the death rate in general of adepts was high. NO, this was NOT okay with Kenshin.   
    This whole project to save the human race was founded by the government… and they were recruiting for a war. It was as simple as that. What scared Kenshin most was that he had been in this exact situation.   
    He had wanted to do what was right.   
    He wanted to make the difference, obey the greater good.   
    Given it was a little different this time. For one, it wasn't him; it was Kaoru. Two: he had had a choice in his idiocy, and even though he knew Kaoru would agree to go with Sawyer no matter how much they argued about it, Kaoru did not have a choice.   
    Kenshin knew what would happen then. She would be used in a war that was probably deep down about money, possibly killed, and she had no idea what she was agreeing to. That fact brought up unpleasant memories Kenshin decided had best be left alone. She would have to kill and he didn't think she realized it yet. This 'large cannon' that Sawyer talked about was able to destroy, what, several ships at a time? If the human fleet, which had been too small to put up the greatest fight, had a casualty rate of 60,000 deaths he wondered what a victory against an Ender ship meant in terms of lives. More most likely. 80,000? The thought made him nauseous. _The death toll of humans is 150,000, what's the death count total?_   
    Kenshin wondered about things left unsaid and assumed the worst, as is true in most wars. What were the 'other weapons' Sawyer spoke of? Hand to hand? What kind of weapons would that require for Kaoru to use and would she be fighting only Enders?   
    The whole cause of the war was mysterious. There was no information on the Enders except on how to kill them. What were the attempts for peace, and if there weren't any, why?   
    Kenshin expected all these answers before he let Kaoru leave, and once he had his answers he was pretty sure he wasn't _going_ to let her leave. She would argue, possibly cry, they would fight, he might have to pull her hair or stop her from running off to leave during the night…   
    What the hell was he thinking?   
    _What the hell am I thinking?_   
    She wasn't… it wasn't… they weren't… It wasn't his choice whether she went or stayed. But it was! He always protected her! It was his job, his purpose! But then… to take away her freedom of choice wasn't lo-   
    Anyway.   
    He'd never gone that far before. Always he had warned her and tried to stop her once or twice- andthensheeitherbeathimtoapulp or she had fainted in his arms or he had just let her go and then went with her so nothing would happen to her.   
    There was nothing wrong/obsessive/protective/parenting about that. Nope…   
    Of course he cared for her a great deal. Significantly so. She meant a lot to him, and therefore, he protected her. Then again, Sano meant a great deal to him and he didn't need to protect Sano. On the other hand, he definitely didn't feel the same about Sano as Kaoru. Sano was like a brother. Kaoru was like… she was a- she had- there was a difference because, well… she was like a-   
    -a sister, he concluded. There was something wrong with this reasoning but he couldn't quite place it.   
    Then there was the second reason that he needed to speak with Sawyer. In a way he really should have been speaking to Kaoru about it but that wasn't going to happen. If he would just stop lying to himself he would be able to get somewhere with this. He needed time alone to address this subject because no one knew about it, not even himself (because he continued to lie to himself).   
    He could live out his life a happy old bachelor, doing laundry and playing with other people's kids. He _could_. He had a family now, and as long as he could help it, he would like to retain that family. How nice would it be if he could grow old with Yahiko, Sano, Megumi and Kaoru at his side? Things could continue happily just the way they were. Thing was, that was impossible. Life didn't seem to work like that, especially for him.   
    For the first time ever he had been spending time settled down without any distractions. And openly! He had been trying very hard not to be distant.   
    How strange… he was failing and succeeding at the same time.   
    His major goal was for everything to stay happy a while longer. He tried not to worry Kaoru, and to keep Yahiko as a good kid, growing into a healthy man, and a good student. He went out to have fun more often with Sano, and for some reason hanging around Megumi wasn't as dangerous to his health as it used to be. Any changes in these things would result in the risk that things would lunge into a downward spiral.   
    By trying to keep everything the same, at the same time he seemed to be acting distant… especially with a particular member of the Kenshin-gumi, Kaoru. By trying not to worry her, he often times had tried to leave her out of things that would danger her. Most of all, he had tried to stop letting her know that he possibly, in any case, just might, perhaps, maybe had some feelings for her other than a sister.   
    There, he had said it.   
    Wait, no he hadn't.   
    Before the days of Shishio he had tried to stay relatively in a balance between distant and close with Kenshin-gumi. That's why it was okay for him to once in a while let small things slip out about Kaoru. He repressed it all to a certain degree, but back then it had been 'okay' for him to mess up once in a while because he was being distant anyway, right? So he had repressed a bunch of fond feelings he had for Kaoru that would have gotten his heart in a lot of trouble and every once in a while he found himself brushing against her, or grabbing her hand and holding it. It was hard sometimes since she was the only person he could talk to her openly to a certain degree without fear. He knew that if he talked with her about certain things then she wouldn't hold them against him.   
    That's where it all started, the talking. In the week or so that they were living alone they had had many a fine talk. Kaoru was an intelligent woman with a lot of insight and a trusting heart of gold. It was true that he didn't reveal that much to her because he hadn't much to talk about since the bakamatsu and he preferred not to talk about that in the early days, but he had found out so much about her and all her habits. He knew _why_ she was a compulsive cleaner, and how she felt about her budo, she told him about her relations with Tae and her exploits with cooking. If you added up all the time they had spent in deep conversation together during that week it was probably a couple of hours, which is a lot, if you think about it, considering how _talkative_ Kenshin was.   
    Then there was Yahiko, and Kenshin loved Yahiko dearly but the conversations with Kaoru stopped, at least the long ones. That's when the long moments of silence that spoke volumes started. When the house was quiet, which was rare, and Kaoru was free from teaching, and Yahiko was cleaning in another part of the house, Kenshin and Kaoru would spend a great deal of time just in each other's company rather than in conversation because on the chance that they would be interrupted by Yahiko, it was easier to commence being together in silence then to start and stop a conversation over and over. That's when Kenshin noticed other things about Kaoru, the way she moved, the sound of her voice, that she hummed sometimes when cleaning, that she liked to read and stay informed about current events, her speech patterns, how to tell if she was angry or hurt, sad or tired, what she liked to eat, that she wasn't a morning person, and when to recognize that she was feeling lonely.     Then Sano came. That was one hell of a time… still is. THAT'S when Kenshin really learned some things about Kaoru that he shouldn't of needed to know: how to dodge punches, when Kaoru was at the point where she would hit people, which inanimate objects hurt when they connected more than others and where it hurt more for them to connect, which position would make him the smallest target, how to bandage one's own head with one hand, he learned to carry around bandages and that Sano had no qualms about using him as a shield.   
    By that time Kenshin and Kaoru had become pretty close and Kenshin could say that he felt an undefined something for Kaoru but he had not idea what it was and chose to ignore it. The first time Kenshin let himself admit that he felt some affection for Kaoru was when Kaoru leant him the ribbon. It meant a lot to him that she didn't want him to leave and that she cared about him as part of her family. That's when he actually felt one spark of affection. One. He felt it even more intensely when she was suddenly gone. That was when he realized that in addition to her not wanting him to leave and caring about him the feeling was mutual. But by the time he realized that he also realized that he hadn't completely rid himself of being a hitokiri. So just when he could have admitted to himself that he liked her he had to repress that feeling because he was a danger to her. Maybe, just maybe he could have convinced himself to try to share the affection with her anyway but… then something that would change everything happened.   
    Megumi. The presence of Megumi dispensed any chance Kenshin had of subtly courting Kaoru. He wouldn't have thought of it as courting then but that's what it would have been. Megumi, however, did not want to make this easy for him seeing as she felt love for him herself. In order to officially choose Kaoru over Megumi he would have to openly profess his affection or something and neither he nor Kaoru was ready for that. As a cautious man who was weary of endangering Kaoru already there was no way he would declare his love for her. He didn't love her, he felt affection towards her but that wasn't going to get him anywhere.   
    So now even though he knew he felt _something_ for Kaoru, he worked hard to repress showing anything for her. Once he did that, once in a while his feelings for her would climb out of that dark grave he buried them in and pop into reality like daisies. That's why sometimes he would do stupid romantic things like grabbing her hand when there was no real need, or saying things that hinted a romantic relationship, or offered his hand to her, or offered to carry her on his back or otherwise. It seemed very chivalrous but it was actually just mistakes that he followed through with so that he didn't want to hurt her feelings… and he kinda wanted to do them.   
    The Megumi problem was replaced by his desire for nothing to change. There was one exception to this all: when he told Kaoru goodbye. He was leaving, so he didn't need to hold anything back. So… so he hugged her. When he thought of it afterwards it was a very selfish thing to do, to show some of his feelings right before he planned on leaving forever. Inadvertently that was the sign of affection that was needed for Megumi to realize that he felt _things_ for Kaoru and not her.   
    Their parting was the first time he allowed himself to realize that as much as he had told himself he was fine to leave when he was needed, the whole family, especially Kaoru, had gotten under his defense and pried him open once again. He hated being pried open, for one thing it hurt a lot, but then again, he deserved every second of it. How dare he close himself off to his family for his own protection and then hurt them all, expecting them all to forget about him and thinking that he meant nothing to him. For some reason they all cared immensely about him. That wasn't too hard to accept but the fact that he thought he could control it all was his main mistake. He wasn't like that anymore though, he was open and accepted that he had a family.   
    There was no way he was letting his family go, not after all this. He would not loose Kaoru after everything they had been through together, he would not forget about her and if there was any whole for him to pick at, he would rip it open so that she would not have to go. She had proved so very long ago that she didn't want him to leave her and he was sure he didn't want her to leave. There was a way… there had to be a way.   
  
**End Part I**   
  
  
The reason for me needing a Part I and II is pretty funny, the chapter was so long that notepad refused to hold it and so I had to split it up. What makes it funnier is that I had originally made the chapter end before I had wanted it to because it had gotten so long. Maybe I'll end it how I wanted to with Part III. Lol... I'm insane. My devotion to writing is so confusing, it's not like I want to be a writer, well, my devotion continues, and so does this fic!   
  
    -MaraJadeblu ^.^  



	4. So, are we leaving or not? Part II

From now on, there will be a shortened version of authors notes. The topics will be in bold if they're important, and if you like, read on.  
  
All of this chapter is in English because of my good friend, the translator. ^.^   
  


Part II

  
  
    Although Kenshin had not reached some major revelations about his non-relationship with Kaoru, he had decided what he was going to do just in time. He stood in front of the large silver object that plagued his happiness. Without pausing he continued to walk towards the lifting machine that would allow him to enter the ship. Having reached the area below the belly of the ship, he stood there, realizing that he had no way of letting them know he was down there. :sweatdrop: This was spoiling his seriously determined attitude. "Ano…" he yelled at the sheet of metal above him.   
    Immediately the circular landing disengaged and with the sound of compressed air being released the plate unscrewed and lowered. Kenshin cried out in shock and took a few steps back; he then regained his manly composure and waited calmly for the plate to lower.   
    Having already once done this he felt more confident and stepped onto the metal landing. He grabbed the rail on the edge and waited to rise into the ship. When the plate stopped rotating he saw an awaiting Sawyer, smiling familiarly.   
    "I should have known to expect you back," Sawyer said slowly, then, "Welcome." Uncertainly he bowed. Kenshin returned his bow and stepped off the device.   
    "I need to ask you certain questions."   
    After a pause Sawyer seemed to get what he said. He smiled, "Please, I would be happy to answer them, only, would you mind using the *translator*?"   
    "No," Kenshin said simply. Sawyer led them into the room where the translator sat, in the lounging area connected to what Kenshin guessed was the bridge. They sat on opposite sides of the circle-shaped couch. When Kenshin put the translator in his ear he felt a sharp pain and instinctively almost pulled it out. Steadily his hand came down to rest on his lap and he stared at Sawyer evenly. The pain faded pretty quickly before the machine was tuned.   
    The translator consisted of a set of two clip-on earpieces that received signals from the large machine via antennas. "Testing," Sawyer said. In Kenshin's ear he heard a feminine voice with a strange accent that was anything but Japanese. It was very awkward.   
    "It's working," Kenshin said anyway, he was eager to have his questions answered so he could talk to Kaoru about her _not_ leaving.   
    Sawyer folded his hands on the table, "Good, now, what would you like to ask me?" At once Kenshin reevaluated Sawyer. When he spoke in English he sounded much more competent, calculating and confident. He didn't act as young as he was and he seemed to be attentive and relaxed instead of attentive and confused.   
    Kenshin was feeling a bit of a rush and he had the desire to express all his opinions on the matter at once but searched his mind for one of the questions he wanted to ask. One of the most obvious ones came to mind, "Will she have to kill? How much, why was it never mentioned?"   
    Sawyer smiled gravely, "Yes, if you consider it that. Only directly when we are breeched and attacked by land forces, and it was never mentioned because the conversation didn't go that way. It's a rather complicated subject involving how the Enders live and whether or not they live." Kenshin noticed his informed and educated manner of speech, unlike any that he had heard before from Sawyer or his companion. "The Enders, we believe, are already dead and only live off of the life energy they are made up of, therefore it might not really be considered 'killing' per say."   
    "Oro? Living off life energy but dead anyway? What makes you say they're dead?" Kenshin asked. He had tried to look confused but his mind sent him warning signals at the loop holes presented.   
    "Classified information I'm afraid." Warning signs went of in Kenshin's head. _Classified de gozaru ka?_   
    "In that case," he continued, filing away all the scratches in Sawyer's story, "What attempts for peace have there been?"   
    There was a long silence and Sawyer shifted in his chair uneasily. "So far attacks have only been made by the Ender's, we are too busy defending to make attempts for peace. There are records of surrenders made by human colonies that went unheeded."   
    This information was absorbed but Kenshin realized his question had not been answered, "There was the span of years that Ender's didn't attack when the concept of adep'su was formed but instead of using that time to try for peace you found a way to counter attack. This only fuels the war, and there was no attempt for peace made?"   
    Sawyer felt slightly uncomfortable because he had not thought of it before in that respect and so instead of trying to get around the accusation he just answered straightly, "No, or at least it is undocumented." _Why wasn't I trained for this?!_ he yelled at himself. Surely if there had been an attempt for peace he would have been told. His job was to convince people to come, so why weren't these things explained to him in case they came up, why was even _he_ kept in the dark about it?   
    "Why not?" Kenshin pressed. This was a very serious matter to him; lives were not to be trifled with even though governments had the power to do it anyway. _Still, why wasn't there even an attempt to end the war bloodlessly, especially when not much was known about Enders, or, if there was,_ Kenshin considered, _then there was a large gap around that classified information and the continuation of the war._   
    On the opposite side Sawyer was coming to the same conclusions but also panicking because Kenshin was requesting further information. "Um, well, I don't actually know but the logical reason would be of fear," _yeah right,_ "any amount of humans that have confronted Enders without an adept have all died, and it would be a stupid risk to send adepts in for unpredictable negotiations-"   
    "A stupid risk?" Kenshin asked calmly, but inside he was getting frustrated. "Stopping the war and ending the death of all these people is a stupid risk?"   
    "It's improbable. What if it didn't work?" Sawyer defended with as much truth as he could muster.   
    "What if it did?" _Well,_ Sawyer thought, _that was to be expected._ Kenshin had said the last icily. "You speak like saving lives is the most important thing to you but can only see that the way to save lives is by taking them." _I'm such a hypocrite,_ thought Kenshin with bitter humour. "Don't you stop to think of the best way in which this could be solved? You gave several long speeches on what happened and how it should be stopped, but do you never consider what you're reciting?"   
    "Hey!" said Sawyer with annoyance, but he had no grounds to back his outburst and therefore fell into silence. He suddenly felt very depressed. He had spent the last four years of his life thinking of almost nothing but the war. He gave up everything to do what he thought was right and felt that if he stopped for even a second; all he gave up would be nothing but dust. But now, when giving up even more to come here and do what he thought was worth it, suddenly all he believed in and depended on seemed much less than perfect. Wars were never perfect in his mind, killing was never perfect, but the reasoning… there was something he had never seen so flawless as the reasoning he had to fight the war.   
    He looked in masked amazement at the man before him and knew not whether he should admire him for his insight, or hate him for revealing the imperfections of that which he placed his life upon. He could not, however, do either, for the latter prevented the former and the fact that it was all truth prevented the latter. Sawyer was not one to hate the bringer of truth but could not let go that this man had thrown him into darkness from the clear light of his resolve.   
    So he sat, rather awed and dumb, and only wondered what this man had been through to make him have that kind of power and insight. _Why does Kenshin know these things when I have been living them for four years and he has been alive only in a time of relative peace. I checked the history books, he must have been too young to really remember the last war and yet he seems to be learned in the subject._   
    Kenshin searched his brain for the other questions he wanted to ask as Sawyer stared, waiting for him with an unchanged face and glazed eyes. He remembered his question about the death count of both humans and Enders but refrained from asking because he realized Sawyer wouldn't know anyway. _This war is another bloody pawns game,_ he growled in frustration, _No one knows anything, and those who do are so high up, pulling the strings, that it doesn't matter to them how many live and die as long as they win._ That triggered something in his memory, and he was thankful Sawyer was being quietly patient, though a little spacey. Weapons of mass destruction were commonly used in wars like these, and all wars. _I would know, I was one of them,_ Kenshin thought bitterly and then felt disturbed that his thoughts became so bitter and darkly focused at times like these because that was parallel to the way the hitokiri thought. _No,_ he corrected himself, _we're the same people, no wonder… Urg! I can't deal with this right now._ With that he could finally ask his question, "You mentioned large weapons, like a cannon running of life energy. What kind of damage does that do?"   
    Sawyer hadn't noticed he was being talked to and only heard, "cannon running on life energy. What kind of damage does that do?" Luckily, it was enough, "When fully charged, the cannon could use a fourth of its energy to completely destroy something about the same size as my ship. In one blast the beam could render a battleship useless, and with about 12 adepts it could be recharged for another blast in three minutes." Sawyer started, _I_ do_ do it. I rattle off things like statistics and technical information as well as other things without thinking. That's horrible! And I, who pride myself so much on my devotion to-_   
    "How many people does a battleship hold?" Kenshin asked distractedly.   
    "Um…" Sawyer's train of thought faltered, "5,000-8,000." _Wait! I should have thought more about that. 5-8 thousand people. Yup, that's a lot of people… what is he getting at, it's not like we attack our own ships with the beam. Um… oh- wait a second… if each of our battleships has that many people then chances are so do ender ships meaning that we kill that many enders every time we fire that cannon._Sawyer paused in his thoughts. He was unsure of whether that was good or whether the growing remorse and uneasiness he felt was just. _So in part,_ he thought slowly, _I've killed thousands of people- no! Enders! They're just enders!! They're not even alive! O, but I don't know that!_ The only sign Sawyer gave of his thoughts outside his body was the nervous hand he ran through his hair, and if one looked closely, his blank eyes. Bitterly he laughed at himself, _I should have taken to heart, 'With great power comes great responsibility'. Two adepts can save four thousand, it's history, a miracle, famous forever more and both adepts are dead. Ah, but twelve adepts can kill eight thousand people every three minutes. Life is so very ironic and I am so very stupid for not thinking of these things before!_ He wished he could laugh at it all, but his eyes only became more downcast and there was an implacable heaviness in his chest. He wished he had some one there to reassure him he hadn't done wrong the past four years, anyone, like Roxanne, or even Tackets. Roxanne, that's who he really wanted to see, God! and he had given her up too!   
    He cursed himself several times over, there he was doubting himself to the ends of the earth when he had left even Roxanne behind to accomplish something, and he would not come back empty handed! He had to find answers to these questions, and quickly, reasons for these gaps and misconceptions and then he would consider it all later. He had no time right now to think about every little detail before saying something and giving this novice a chance to screw him over. In this war this family and he were but a part and the whole was much more important to dwell on. _So,_ he quickly reasoned, _I need to think of why this is justified… why adepts should hold so much power but little control and why the ability to kill easily was the right thing. No, that last I won't do, because it's bullshit even to me._   
    "Without the ability of these cannons the human race would probably be stooped to a population in the triple digits by now. Enders never seem to run out and although we have allies on the IGTF border, other races aren't at stake so it doesn't mean so much to them." There.   
    "You seem absolutely convinced that the whole human race would die out, but from what I hear Earth is still safe and well beyond the borders or the frontier," Kenshin put in.   
    This was too much, suddenly, without his consent, Sawyer's fist slammed down on the table and he stood up to tower over the red headed man. "How can you say that?! There are over _two billion_ humans living in space!! Two!" He signified two with his fingers, "B-I-L-L-I-O-N! That's how many are at risk. Don't chide me for not considering the deaths of others. Earth is extremely overcrowded with people and run over with disease, we've used up almost all industrial natural resources and we need to mine on other planets. Of the population of 30 billion still living in our solar system, 25 billion are lower class, as in moneyless, homeless, familyless, starving, diseased, uneducated, dying people!" Sawyer was surprised to find that tears had stung his eyes but not dropped. He calmed though his voice trembled, "Space is our only hope for a better future. You think we tried pushing back the frontier just for kicks? It's a law of history that you only push the frontier when you're either desperate, or safe and bored. We were desperate, we _are_ desperate. So we scraped together a great deal of money and risked everything for the chance to save ourselves. By some miracle of fate, or heaven, or whatever you want to call it, we found what could save us all, save those in space and save our planet: an unlimited energy source. Can you fathom what that would mean to Earth?" His voice cracked. Slowly his hand went to his forehead and he sat, breathing with slight heaviness.   
    "But then," he cleared his throat, "then we get kicked in the face, our hope torn away from us, our scientists, soldiers and frontiersmen killed, our last reserves of money that were spent on ships destroyed and depleted to nothing. It's as if we never set out at all, except we are worse off for it. If only you could see what I saw when I came back to Earth, my home, after a thousand years. Sallow faces, eyes hollow, sockets sunken, limbs weak and useless, lethargic diseases, lack of food and so many beggars… When I came from my time of fruitful pleasures, tall buildings and the occasional homeless person being shooed away by the MTA to see such things I cried. Then, to give up my happiness and ignorant security and fight for a better life and watch it as it fails- to return, and see that just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. It plays with my mind to return to a time before my own and see nature so rich and plentiful, without all the pollution and death, and no fear of where the worlds natural resources will be coming from next- for the first time in my whole life, to look up at the sky from Earth in a world that doesn't know what the Earth looks like from the sky, and see millions of little stars on a cloudless night twinkling in endless patterns," as he envisioned that night he had looked at the stars, and all the clear nights afterwards a flashing image of Roxanne came to his mind's eye and he felt a wave of guilt so strong that he lost his train of thought.   
    Sawyer felt very weak now, but relieved that he still knew what he fought for, what he sacrificed for. "I don't know everything, but I know that it's important we win and survive." Sawyer looked defiantly at Kenshin to see if he would challenge.   
    _Well, it's been a while since I've heard a youth's romanticized version of war and reasons for fighting it de gozaru. Too bad it blinds one from seeing ulterior motives until too late de gozaru yo. He has the general gist of why everyone thinks the war should be fought without the knowledge of what else there is to be gained, but I think I'll spare him the torment of knowing ahead of time how prominent corruption is de gozaru. Even if he's trying to do everything at once and be all knowing and all seeing, he's still just a kid de gozaru yo. _ Kenshin smiled warmly.   
    "I* understand better now what you're trying to accomplish," after Kenshin said this, Sawyer seemed to deflate and relax back into his old masked form, "but you might understand my motives for wanting to know every detail anyway. You are asking one of the most important people in my life to leave her family and dojo and everything she holds dear (except, perhaps, her morality) and fight in a war that is very difficult to understand. There is one thing I must know," his voice changed to a more serious tone, "several times it was alluded to that adepts die frequently, but never elaborated upon. _How_ frequently?"   
    Sawyer paused, besides the fact that he needed to think of a democratic answer, he himself was an adept and being reminded of his own high chances of death was not fun. "Its difficult to calculate. The rate of which adepts arrive, and that of which they die varies." Kenshin stared at him with such intensity that he felt pressured and gulped. "Well, there are 28 adepts in the future now and last year, total, we recieved" he counted to himself, "six adepts, and at our peak we had… oh, I don't know, it fluctuated so then… well, we lost three adepts within the last 8 months, and I guess if you leave out specifics you could say in the year, but that's only that year. It was a good year."   
    "So, in a good year, you loose about half the adepts you take in? And what about a bad year?"   
    "First of all, we don't loose the same adepts we take in usually. Mostly… the seasoned adepts that have been around a while and go on missions… ya' know." He took a deep breath and tried not to think of himself and Roxanne. "Three years ago we lost a colony, that was a bad year. We gained, I think, five or so and lost eight or nine. Back then I think we only had 16 or 17 total at peak."   
    There was a long dark pause. "Are you a 'seasoned adept' Sawyer-dono?"   
    "Um, yea."   
    "How old are you?" Kenshin's voice had gotten deeper and his stare even more pungent.   
    "Twenty-two," Sawyer tried not to use filler words like 'um' or show the nervousness he felt in his voice. After all, every time Kenshin spoke he seemed to realize something more depressing.   
    "How long-"   
    "Four years. Out of six, adepts have been around for six years."   
    "What's the longest some one living's been an adept?"   
    "'Bout five and a half years." _ Damn, why is my voice trembling?!_   
    "So all the adepts from the first year are dead?"   
    "Um, yea."   
    "What's the shortest time an adept's lived?" Kenshin's voice was flat as he considered Kaoru in each situation.   
    "Hard to say… Um, two months?" _I wish I would stop doing that…_   
    Kenshin narrowed his eyes, "Average life expectancy?"   
    Sawyer swallowed, _This is so unlike me…_, he calculated in his head and the number frankly scared him, "Three years, around. Two and a half to three."   
    "This is a long war."   
    "Space is a big place." They stared evenly at each other and all of a sudden Sawyer felt much less afraid and nervous. He let out a breath.   
    _He looks kind of pale,_ thought Kenshin, _Maybe I shouldn't of projected my ki de gozaru…_   
    "When do you think it will end?"   
    Sawyer tried to flash his usual smile but it came out dark and toothy, "When the enders stop coming."   
    Kenshin considered this carefully, _You mean when you take over their planet and their energy source? At this rate that will take years more, and many more adep'su lives as well as Kaoru-dono de gozaru. No, the boy believes in the war, and even Kaoru-dono might, but I'm not going to let her go and waste her life. _   
    Kenshin stood and bowed, "Arigatou de gozaru." _I need to talk to Kaoru-dono._ He looked around and realized he didn't know how to get out. "Oro? Would you let me out now de gozaru ka? I don't know how-"   
    "Wait," Sawyer said, "You're leaving?"   
    "…Yes."   
    Sawyer got up and stood in front of Kenshin, "Well?" He paused like he expected an answer but remembered himself, "Well… aren't you going to tell me what you've decided?"   
    Kenshin sighed, "I don't_want_ to, but it looks like you're not going to let me out until I do," he mumbled under his breath and too fast for Sawyer to comprehend, "I do not wish for Kaoru-dono to go with you and I will try to talk her out of it. I also encourage you not to go back, but I know you won't listen to me de gozaru."   
    Sawyer stared at him in shock, feeling a little betrayed, he had thought he had been pretty convincing. However, just because Kenshin didn't always comment on his words, didn't mean he agreed with them. "What?"   
    "Do you push this button?" Kenshin pointed at a red button on the railing.   
    Quickly Sawyer grabbed a control off the wall and locked down the transport, "After all's said and done, you're going to try to talk her out of it?"   
    Kenshin smiled, "It's funny how no one listens to me when I tell them not to do things… but, I don't think I'll only try, I'll prevent her from coming." Kenshin tried pushing the button but it did nothing.   
    Sawyer stalked over and whipped Kenshin around to face him, "It's not you're choice! You can't stop her, what right do you have?"   
    "Your right," he said truthfully, and with a second thought, "has anyone ever refused?"   
    Sawyer looked left and right before answering, "-No."   
    Sawyer was usually masked, calm and composed, but twice that day with Kenshin had he lost those things and Kenshin saw and understood his blind passion that would make him do the stupidest things he could without doubt. All too familiar. It was because of this understanding that he had an underlying suspicion he thought he would test out. "Perhaps, but I think she might be the first to refuse anyway, and definitely with my encouragement- in that case there's nothing you can do."   
    Sawyer's head jerked back and he hesitated before realizing the expression he was showing and composing himself, "True."   
    That was all Kenshin needed, he had been acting truthfully with that hesitation and shifting in his eyes. Kenshin gave him a sideways glance, "Sou, de gozaru ka?" He took a step back from his opponent. "You aren't going to let her refuse, are you?"   
    Sawyer answered with an unmoving, even stare and silence.   
    "I didn't think so."   
    Sawyer's eyes had narrowed slightly and he shifted his hand so it could easily move into his gi. Kenshin put his hand on the hilt of his sword.   
    "I would fight you before I let you take her against her will."   
    "And I can see you would fight with her before you let her go with her consent. It all depends on whether or not you think you can unsheath before I shoot you," he spoke slowly and thoughtfully, "I'm an extremely fast shot, and this gun is not like that you're used to. I doubt you've ever encountered a _real_ fast shot before, hand-held guns haven't been around that long and there's no such thing as rapid fire. In addition, my gun is a new weapon created for adepts, it could melt your sword.   
    "You act like you're good, but you've never fought some one with my ability before. Unless you either killed me, cut my arm off, which is the same thing, or knocked me out with your first try I'd shoot you because let me tell you, I don't just carry _one_ gun."   
    They stared.   
    Kenshin could tell he was bluffing nothing and was trying to figure out a way to knock him out without getting shot, but it was true, he didn't know how the gun worked. Normally he'd risk it, but this gun, apparently, didn't use bullets. Soon he was running through a list of alternatives. This ended here. Whether or not Kaoru went was decided now. If Kenshin won, she wasn't going, if Sawyer won, she was, so what alternatives could there be?   
    _How did I get in this situation?_ Kenshin wondered, somehow it might help him get out of it. _I needed to have questions answered because there were so many gaps and loopholes and- why, the reason I'm standing right here, right now is because of his deceitful loophole with Kaoru-dono's choice. Loopholes… maybe I can make a deal with him that has a loophole to get us out of this…_ None came to mind. He wasn't great at all this legal stuff (marriage, carrying weapons publicly, dealing with cops -coughSaitoucough - and what not) _Loopholes… in order to find a loophole first I should lay out what I know de gozaru. Kaoru-dono will want to go because just like him she doesn't see everything I see and I'm rather glad for it de gozaru. He wants Kaoru-dono to go and is just as blind as her in the matter. She also doesn't have a choice but to go because he will kidnap her away de gozaru. Kidnap… I will not let that happen. Even if I convinced her not to go and she was taken then that would leave her trapped and above all, alone. It must hurt her enough to think that she has to leave as it is… being alone is what scares and hurts her the most de gozaru yo. After all, why am I doing this? I'm trying to protect her. Surely Sawyer-dono won't hurt her because he needs her help, but she would be lonely and depressed… Kaoru-dono should never need to feel that way when she has me to-   
    Aha… after all, I don't want her from my side, and she doesn't want me to leave and it is somewhat of a compromise… and I can protect her life if I'm with her or at least with me around she would be more protected de gozaru.
_   
    Kenshin, confident he would not be shot without making a move first, let go of the hilt of his sword and relaxed some muscles, but his glare did not lessen. He had made the decision, but only because he had to and he didn't like it at all. Well… he did like it better than being shot and Kaoru being kidnapped, but still…   
    Sawyer noticed his movement but did not respond in like in case it was some 'super fast samurai move thingy' (sounds _kinda_ like ama kakeru ryu no hirameki, if you say it _really_ fast).   
    "You said," Kenshin began clearly, "that she has to go with you." It was a question in the form of a statement.   
    "I won't have it any other way." Sawyer was suddenly thankful he hadn't taken down his hand, to him this sounded like an 'I'm about to kill you' speech.   
    "You never said," Kenshin continued in a manner that threatened those who would defy what he spoke, "she had to go alone."   
  
  
*After much debate, I have decided that I will write "I" for Kenshin in the dialogue and his thoughts instead of "sessha" because even after the revenge arc he still uses sessha and so I think he doesn't change it out of habit and doesn't completely mean it in the same sense it is understood as "this unworthy one". I feel he thinks of it more as a use for "I" and not much more unless he's getting really deep and reflective/depressed, like after the Cho battle. That probably didn't make sense to people that haven't seen the whole series (like, 4 times… or not) and meticulously read the end of the revenge arc ^.^ gomen.   
  


**Important things are in BOLD!**

  
  
Should I write a part III to this chapter, or end it here? This does effect how I write the chapters/parts. **Feedback is important.**   
  
Let me say something **important** before I rant. I know my writing style changed, but I have completely become Shakespeare groupie of the year person, **so tell me if the fic is not making sense and DEFINITELY tell me if I'm boring,** I will become less boring, yay! I enjoy writing this way, but **if it's too slow I can speed it up.** Or, this fic is just not worth telling me I suck and change it bc you wouldn't read it again anyway but whatever, I don't think it sucks. :P   
U know what's a good song? (I think of almost all songs at some point in terms of how good a Kenshin Music Vid they would make) Everything You Know is Wrong - Weird Al. I think it would make an awesome funny MV. By the way, my taste in music will later be important in this fic. (Not particularly, THAT genre)   
**SUPPORT LEGAL ANIME ** Not that I don't have fansubs- but in general, when I have money, I'm rebuying Kenshin legally among other things that I want only in legal form. Possibly Eva.   
Now to rant on unimportant stuff that random people might read. My Social Studies paper is a big pain in the ass bc im perfectly willing to do it but there's NO information/books in any major library in Manhattan or the Bronx that has information on the involvement of North Carolina in the First Continental Congress except random stuff about it's economy that I will eventually be forced to write my thesis on besides the fact that it will all be coming out of my arse directly onto the paper (ew). However, I shouldn't receive a grade any worse than the rest of that class bc the teacher is a really hard grader with papers and I'm going to get a B in her class anyway. That's school.   
I'm trying to think of a Shakespeare play I can adapt for Kenshin, like my GW version of Romeo and Juliet. **I'm willing to write a co-fic over the summer if anyone is interested** but I am decidedly NOT pro OOC for the sake of a fic, I feel it defeats the purpose, why not just create your own character and write an original story then, u know? With Shakespeare, you can cut and adapt it to the characters. Ack, if anyone's interested I'll explain what I mean. 


	5. So, are we leaving or not? Part III

There might be a delay on this, I have an urge to write in LRTD and Normal. Doesn't this fic just make you want to hit them until they realize they're in love? (I also have soooooooo many finals and no time, forgive me)   
  
* Stuff in stars is in English. *   
Thoughts will be in italics most of the time.   
: Actions are in colons. : (That's where all the fun is ^.^) I know, bu-dum chhh! [MJb is a yaoi fan- reow! NOT of RK yaoi though]   
(this fic is based solely on the anime, and the Revenge arc basically has never happened)   
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, it belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and some other people like Jump comics and such. I'm not making any money off of this… unfortunately. :P.   
  
Vocab for this chapter ^.^x :   
"Yahiko, doshita de gozaru ka?" --- 'Yahiko, what's wrong?'   
Mou --- Geez   
  
    Kenshin shook his head thoroughly upon leaving the grounds where the ship stood. His ear still wrung from having the translator in it for an extended period of time. His ached for so many more reasons than that however. He rubbed his temples as he walked downcast towards the dojo.   
    _Damnit!_ he thought, and he might had said it out loud. _I was GOING there so NOTHING would change! And I come out in worse shape than I was when I started de gozaru yo._ He sighed and tried to think on the bright side, _It could be worse… I could have _not_ confronted him and then convinced Kaoru-dono from going. Then he would have kidnapped her and she'd be all alone de gozaru._   
    He pushed a branch out of his way as he shuffled along rhythmically. _Oh, but this does not solve things by far de gozaru yo…_ he conceded, _There's so much to be thought through and I didn't think of any of it! What will happen to Yahiko if both Kaoru-dono and I were gone de gozaru ka?_ He figured that perhaps Sano could take care of him, but that would be restricting Sano by much and Megumi was not an option because she would return to Aizu some day, and definitely within the year. Yahiko couldn't come with them; it was far too dangerous. The only reason Kaoru was even allowed to go was because she _had_ to. At anytime they could be attacked and Kenshin couldn't protect two people in completely different places at the same time.   
    Kenshin's surroundings became more familiar and as he neared the house he realized he had a more immediate problem to think of. _What am I going to say to Kaoru-dono?!_ he thought frantically. He stopped dead in his tracks and fear flew across his eyes; he wasn't any good at this kind of stuff!!! The thought of saying something like, "I'm not leaving your side de gozaru yo," (though it seemed romantic), filled him with the utmost fear, nay, fear for his life.   
    _What if she were to take it the wrong way?! What if she thought it was a confession of love or a proposal?_ He swallowed, _What if she… rejected me de gozaru ka?!_ All of these thoughts scared him immensely, and he could now see the wall of the dojo!!!   
    **Oh, come on, reject you? Baka,** part of his arrogant mind exclaimed with conceit. _ Shut up, you,_ he addressed himself. So part of his brain did recognize that Kaoru had affections for him. There was no way he saw at all how head over heels in love with him she was, but out of that, at least he recognized affection. You see, Kenshin felt that she felt the same way he pretended to feel, only was better at showing it.   
    _Therefore, she might take my going with her as an advance, which it is _not_, and that is something I just can't handle right now de gozaru. Too much change de gozaru._ He concluded that he had to stop all romantic tendencies immediately and had to say his piece in the least romantic way possible. In fact, he decided, he would just say almost the exact same thing he said to Sawyer in the same way. That's as unromantic as it got right?   
    At least he had come to a decision just as he reached the dojo.   
  
    Now, I thought, this is not a good sign. I watched as Kaoru silently walked up the steps and into the house to where her room was. The look on her face answered my questions as to whether or not she would decide to go. Even _I_ felt some pity for her, because she looked ready to cry. It's so awkward when women cry in front of me for real. Since she was ready to cry I didn't say anything and didn't even continue to look at her for more than a glance. Even after she went inside I continued to stare at the spot I hadn't been sweeping for a half an hour.   
    What a stupid waste of time thinking could be.   
    And here I am, Myojin Yahiko-sama, wasting my time for some girl and her problems. Okay… that was a little extreme. I did have my own stake at mind as well.   
    See, I thought Kaoru would be all righteous and go off to kill some things in outer space or whatever because that's what she always teaches me to do. Sort of. I mean, she's always encouraged me to do what was right even if it meant butting into someone's business and all.   
    Here's the thing though, out of all of Kenshin-gumi, Kenshin treats me with the most respect and responsibility. Kaoru would be leaving, and there was no way she would be taking me with her. That was okay as long as I could stay with Kenshin… but I know them both too well, and definitely better than they know themselves, and if Kaoru was going, Kenshin was going too.   
    Where does that leave me? With Sano?! Even Kenshin won't let me go with them to this place and they might be gone for years. I can't live with Sano for years!!! He would eat all the food, and there'd be no one to borrow money from and then we'd both starve or eat each other or something. I'm better off supporting myself with a job at the Akabeko, but I can't live in the dojo alone. And, there is NO WAY I'm sleeping in that excuse for a room called Sano's 'apartment'.   
    So what, I'm thinking, am I going to do? Do you know how hurtful it is that I'll be the one left behind? Mou, there's only so much a man can take. They'll hug me or something embarrassing like that, and tell me how much they'll miss me- and then they'll LEAVE. That makes all their sentiments worthless.   
    I heard Kenshin approach the dojo, open the doors and walk up the path. I wasn't feeling particularly _nice_ right then, so I gave him the most resentful scowl I could. Kenshin walked towards the steps and paused to talk to me.   
    I didn't know exactly what I was going to say to him. I was angry… but, but he's Kenshin! "Yahiko, doshita de gozaru ka?"   
    I narrowed my eyes but could think of nothing cutting to say, and I was too angry to whine too. "I'm just peachy," I muttered with anger and sarcasm. I quickly stepped to the side and started sweeping furiously, "Go ahead." Maybe Kenshin passed it off as anger at Kaoru, but he seemed concerned. Not concerned enough to stop his mission. He nodded and headed up the steps and through the much used entrance towards Kaoru's room.   
    I shook my head; people get so stupid when they're in love. But now back to my problem- so what was a guy to do in a situation like this?   
    Duh, steal aboard the ship. How could I do that… The ship was impossible to get into unless the thing was lowered, and I couldn't get on with Kenshin and Kaoru that way… Shit! The luggage, that's right. I can sneak in with the luggage, even if I have to sneak in _within_ the luggage. (Kaoru may be neat, but she's a packrat, surely I'll fit in her luggage.) But when will the luggage be unguarded? … When everyone's saying goodbye. That means I can't say goodbye to Sano and Megumi but I'll write them something.   
    I felt a little better. Oh, wait, no, if everyone's saying goodbye and I'm missing they'll come looking for me. So I'll have to act really upset (not much of a jump from how I feel) and storm off in a _really_ angry way. Angry enough for them not to follow me, but not so angry or upset that they'll need to follow me.   
    Hey, I'm pretty smart.   
    And with that I started sweeping once again.   
  
    About three steps away from Kaoru's room Kenshin was attacked with another bout of nervousness. It was only the third in what, five minutes? He needed to calm, for what reason did he have to be nervous? Not one. He was only preparing to run away to a dangerous war in the future with the only woman he'd loved in ten years and leaving behind the only family he'd loved in longer than that. No biggie.   
    Kaoru was someone he prized as a confidant. He could always speak to her about things before, all things except matters of the heart, which he failed a terrible, terrible death at. He mustn't think about that now. This had nothing to do with matters of the heart anyway.   
    It didn't.   
    Stop looking at me funny; they're his thoughts.   
    She would do anything for him, including risk her life; they were a team, and he felt the same way. Besides, he'd risked his life to save hers before; it wasn't news. He had nothing to worry about… except that this time he wasn't saving her life per say, but he was going so that she would not have to face her hardships alone. He couldn't very well say that she should deal with it herself because it's the only way that people grow; the circumstances were abnormal. She was only seventeen years old. She shouldn't need to feel all the pain and loneliness that- that he had experienced. It hurt him to see her suffer when she should be filled with mirth and possible violence.   
    He realized he was much closer to the room now and his thoughts had side tracked. The matter at hand: _My heartbeat is speeding up, I feel warm and my palms are sweaty._ Kenshin chuckled to himself, _I'm acting like a school boy asking his first crush out or about to give a girl my first kiss. Like how Yahiko acts around Tsubame when he thinks we're not looking de gozaru._   
    He stopped outside of her room and heard the faint sound of sobbing. Each of his feet slowed once again to a stop. She was already suffering, even before she left. All other thoughts of nervousness and confusion melted into concern and determination to explain what he decided so that she would not have to feel heartrending loneliness.   
    "Kaoru-dono?" had he not been so focused he would have wondered at his ability to sound so calm when he felt so distressed.   
    The sobbing abruptly stopped, and there was a period of shuffling before whatever was going on in her room ceased. She called back softly and with the rough edge to her voice of one who had been crying for long periods of time, "Not right now, Kenshin, I can't talk right now."   
    Kenshin stared at the shouji and waited, thinking. He had already decided he would not give up. It was all or nothing. "That's okay then de gozaru. I won't come in and you don't have to say anything."   
    "Kenshin…" she started to protest.   
    Kenshin turned his back to the shouji, sat in his usual position and propped his sakabatou in its usual place- thereby settling the argument. "I talked to Soiya-dono about the war. I didn't like his answers. This war is a very dangerous investment de gozaru."   
    Kaoru was torn between the agony of being inadvertently upbraided, and anger, "So are lots of things we've done…" Her anger faded and left her with a hollow feeling and dread of what she now needed to say, "I… I have to go." Tears welled once more in her eyes and she buried her head in her folded arms. She now sat opposite Kenshin against the shouji.   
    At Kenshin's next words fear grasped her heart and squeezed it mercilessly, "I thought you would de gozaru." _Is he angry? Why- why does he sound that way… I knew it! I'll never be forgiven! This is the end of my happiness!_ "I wouldn't want to ruin the relationship we have by trying to stop you from going, because I know that it seems no matter what I say you would try to go." Kenshin hadn't noticed his wording, but Kaoru had.   
    "Please, Kenshin… it hurts as it is… I don't want to leave, but I would be nothing if I didn't do the right thing. Please, please don't decide now that-" her throat constricted at the possibility that he might try to stop her by confessing his love. She partially wanted to hear it, but at the moment, under the circumstances, it would only hurt her more. Besides, it would only be a way to bend her to his desires, Kenshin would hopefully never stoop that low in such a case as stands.   
    "Oro?" Kenshin was a bit lost, but he couldn't afford to loose his hold on the conversation and continued. "When you needed it, I've always tried to be there to protect you. _Sessha_ would be nothing if I couldn't continue to protect my loved ones."   
    Kaoru's tear stained face poked up from her arms with a look of alarm. "Kenshin, what are you saying?" _Should I dare to hope? I would stop him now but… I need to hear it too much. I've longed for him to say something for so long._   
    Kenshin, who was oblivious to what he was implying, tried to word this next carefully. He wanted her to keep faith in what she was doing so that she wouldn't be forcefully taken away without him. "You say that you _have to_ go. Soiya-dono never said you had to go _alone_."   
    Kaoru's jaw dropped slightly; she stared ahead blankly but her mind was thrown into a sea of swirling emotions. She was, above all, shocked and off guard. Her overwhelming sadness about leaving was now added to by no small amount of disappointment. Unlike anything else though, she felt bubbling happiness.   
    Kenshin's nervousness that had subsided washed back over him immediately after the worse had been spoken. "Soiya-dono said that it had never been done before but that he had no objection. You don't have to feel so," he whispered, "alone, this way." He waited for her to say anything.   
    The sobs he heard from inside her room started up again, but they were different; this time they had a relieved breathy sound to them. She was not speaking to him though and so he took that as a cue to let her think everything over and leave. He stood up and took his sakabatou up. _maybe I'm just running away… maybe I don't want to know what her answer to that is de gozaru._ It didn't matter; Kenshin was ready to hightail it outa there.   
    So many thoughts and emotions were going through Kaoru's head at the time she didn't know what to cling to to keep her sane. She was miserable, excited, disappointed and frightened all at the same time. The only thing she could recognize was that she had a good deal of relief that Kenshin would be with her and wouldn't leave her. She wanted to say thank you. She wanted to do something, release how she felt or something like it. Only when she heard Kenshin leaving was she able to do anything but stare with shock at the opposite wall. She stood quickly, stubbed her toe, spun around anyway, threw open the shouji and meant to run to Kenshin but ended up tripping because of her toe and ungracefully launched herself into his arms sobbing.   
    When he heard the shouji slam Kenshin turned around besides his instinct to _run away_ from Kaoru and all of a sudden he was holding her.   
    "Oro?"   
    Then his breath caught… she felt so perfect in his arms… he had forgotten how it felt to hold her. At first he had pulled back in surprise but now he took a careful look from left to right and allowed himself the pleasure of encircling his arms around her shaking form. He tried to comfort her by rubbing her back slightly. She sniffled into his gi.   
    The fact that she was still leaving everything else she loved reached Kaoru and she was once again crying silently into Kenshin's chest. With understanding Kenshin continued to comfort her with soft words like, "It'll be okay de gozaru," and held her gently.   
  
  
  
Aw. I'm sorry this is short but I have finals and this was where the chapter was supposed to end. I have to write a paper now, wish me luck bc its gonna suck. **Review**


	6. Goodbye! :tear:... :strange look:

    I'm working on One hour of sleep. I know I should go to bed… and yet…   
DUN DUN DUN!!!   
    This chapter is coming out slowly and therefore I have come to the conclusion that I will make a compromise between my two debating options arguing within my head. Instead of having short, unfulfilling chapters very often or loooong yummy chapters end off where I want them not often at all I will cut the chapters into two parts and release twice as often, sounds good?   
  
    *stuff in stars- english*   
    _Italics are thoughts when in third person._   
    :Actions:   
    This story is AU, based solely on the anime - the Revenge arc basically never happened.   
    Disclaimer: Man, I wish I owned Kenshin because then I would have money to buy the Kenshin box sets. The REAL question is: if I owned Kenshin, would I _need_ to buy the box sets? … By the way, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.   
  
Vocab!!   
    Dame! - Stop! (Kaoru always uses this, it's also I think the next to last ending theme.)   
    Shihondai - Assistant Master (of a dojo) In the manga Kaoru was the shihondai to her father, and he died. She was really insecure about her ability to teach. In the anime they made her the dojo master.   
  
    Chapter 5: Goodbye! :tear:… :strange look:   
  
    The moment of truth was coming. Actually, the moment of truth had come… several times already. This, however, was a different moment of truth. This moment of truth was the sort of moment that you know is going to end up in physical pain- at least in my case. It had been a full day since the fateful afternoon that Kaoru-dono had launched herself into my arms. Today was the day that we had decided to tell everyone else what decision we had made.   
    I needed to talk to Sano as well. I intended to keep my word and talk to Sano before leaving. I also needed to ask him a couple of things. I wasn't _eager_ to give the responsibility of Yahiko to Sano but I needed to do something. Yahiko… was not going to be a happy kid. It hurt me to do this to him but it would be very dangerous for him to come.   
    I needed to let all of this go. Sano was at Megumi-san's clinic, I was doing laundry and Yahiko was avoiding me. Kaoru-dono and I had been avoiding each other since the incident with… with the hug thing. It probably would have been okay if we had ended there, but Kaoru-dono and I needed to collaborate on how to tell everyone else what we decided and we collaborated there.   
    It was, of course, my fault for encouraging anything. Hadn't I decided that I would avoid any hinting that I might like her in any other way then the closest friend I had? So she launched herself into my arms unexpectedly sobbing… did I HAVE to encircled her warmly and comfort her repeatedly, huh? HUH? No, I didn't, I was just being an ahou. I was stupid and unthinking and I didn't even stop there. No, then I had to go into her room, and sit down with her holding her arm comfortingly and do all sorts of stuff that even _I_ know implies I have feeling for her. Grr, I was so weak! She just felt so right in my arms like we fit perfectly together and I didn't want to let her go. I should have had more control. I should have walked away and talked to her about it later.   
    She showed more self-control than I did by far; after all, she was the first one to pull away. What an idiot I was to think that I was the one holding back less and that she was more interested in anything more than friendship than me. It was so stupid it was funny. I have got to be the most unreasonably conceited person there was. Here this young girl was, only seventeen, beautiful, strong, overall attractive in personality and spirit, and I, a raggedy haired, freelancing hobo with a dark and mysterious past, think that just because she's young she will automatically fall in love with me and I will have to be chivalrous and keep her at bay for the sake of her innocence when really _I_ was the one who was falling slightly for her in some ways... possibly.   
    For the sake of my stupid pride at least I could pretend her reason for pulling away first was that I didn't know when she was sufficiently comforted and, well, she did. It wasn't much, one could say, just to have my hand on her arm. Sometimes I found that when I was comforting her I would circle my thumb a little over her smooth skin.   
    Sessha was an idiot. I probably scared her by making advances when she had no interest in me and now our friendship is probably ruined. _That's why she's avoiding me de gozaru. Worse! It gets worse… I'm going to be going to the future with her; this is going to be so awkward de gozaru yo._ I frowned and scrubbed harder.   
    The future… that's right. Today at dinner we were announcing our departure. My hands stopped working. I was going to miss all this. I watched the wind blowing through the nearby sakura trees over the dojo wall; I could almost hear the sound of Yahiko practicing and smell the repulsive...ly comforting aroma of Kaoru-dono's cooking. I had washed laundry here almost everyday for the past six months except for when I was in Kyoto. I had a home. To my surprise and enjoyment I found that I was truly smiling to myself. I _knew_ I had a home from before but it was nice to have a fresh reminder every once in a while.   
    Sometimes I could be such an optimist. It didn't make me very sad to think of everything I was leaving just then; I knew I would miss it, but for that moment I was content to just sift through the pleasant memories of my settled life. _This_, I decided, _is a healthy pastime de gozaru yo. Better, by far, than dwelling on past mistakes that can't be changed._   
  
    Kaoru looked down at the food she was about to pop into her mouth and sighed. This would be her last meal at the dojo in a long time. Kenshin had cooked it at least. The taste was especially good. _Once you've lost something the taste is that much sweeter,_ she supposed.   
    She suppressed another sigh. The food was good but she had no desire to eat it. She was content instead to watch her friends eat until she could talk to them without being interrupted by their inevitable fights over food. She half smiled as Sano repeatedly tried to steal Yahiko's food in order to cheer him up. The boy had been very silent and radiated a dark aura of bitter resentment. She sadly figured that was because he knew how it was all going to turn out.   
    The food was running out now and Kaoru stole a glanced at the much avoided Kenshin, who was thinking about every bite he ate visibly and wasn't going to get anywhere before the food was gone. He stole his own glance her way and their eyes met. Both quickly diverted their focus.   
    Now that the time was right. Kaoru was uncertain on how to start. She knew that if she could get the first few words unlodged from her throat the rest would flow more freely. Feeling completely at a loss for cushioning her blow she thought back to the basics and stated the direct goal of her thoughts. "I've decided," she paused to make sure everyone was listening, but considering they had been waiting the whole night to hear what she was about to say they had already attended to her voice, "that I must go with Taketsu-san and Soiya-kun." To Kaoru's puzzlement, everyone had already figured this out.   
    Now came the harder part. She glanced at Kenshin for some support, and he readily gave it to her, "Kenshin has decided that he will come with me." Megumi gasped loudly and then choked on what she was eating. She had to deal with the humiliation of Sano tapping her on the back very lightly, not that that ever helps. There was a long period of silence except for the sounds of Megumi's wheezing. The party sweatdropped.   
    Megumi finally looked up and met Kenshin's eyes. "Ken-san?"   
    Kenshin managed not to deflate, "I have decided that I will go with Kaoru-dono to protect her de gozaru. It was not her idea. I already spoke to Soiya-dono about it and he has agreed it is okay de gozaru."   
    Megumi felt at a loss for words. She should have assumed as much, Kenshin had obviously preferred Kaoru to her, but she had not really expected him to carry it this far. She was saddened by the knowledge and could only stare at the empty plate wishing that she knew what to say.   
    Sano had different thoughts running through his head. Mentally, he brought his hand up to his chin and wondered, "If Kenshin has the balls to actually go with her _something_ must have happened…" his eyes widened as large as saucers, "THEY FINALLY HAD SEX, DIDN'T THEY?!" He peered at them suspiciously. Both of them were avoiding each other's gazes but it was obvious that they were mutually comforting each other with his or her presence. Sano chuckled; he didn't know Kenshin would stoop that low. An unmarried couple, 'Kaoru-dono' no less! Not only that, but she was young, it was probably her first time, hell, she was eleven years younger than him. Sano smiled evilly, he really couldn't blame Kenshin for having perverse thoughts about-   
    "Yahiko," Kaoru began again, "Kenshin and I think it's best if you don't come with us. It's very dangerous and we don't want to risk your life as much as it pains me to leave you here."   
    Yahiko scowled at them both with a hurt expression that was enough to wrench the heart of all those in the room. His words reflected the mood he shown, "Very dangerous? Too dangerous?! I've done lots of dangerous stuff before! I defeated a member of the Jun Pon Gatana. You remember how dangerous Kyoto was; but I went anyway, didn't I?!"   
    "Yahiko-kun, I wasn't very happy about that de gozaru…" Kenshin interceded. He knew this would continue down a hurtful path if he didn't try to stop it.   
    "Exactly! You tried to leave me behind again. And in Kyoto I was left behind and all those other times, and I'm sick of it!"   
    "But this is what's best for-"   
    "Best for who? For me? That's ridiculous! You seem to forget that I was living on my own in the streets before I met you, and I can take care of myself. Who are you to tell me what to do? You're _not_ my mother!" Kaoru drew in a breath painfully. "You've got no right to mother me, you're only seventeen! You're not old enough to-"   
    "Enough Yahiko," Kenshin tried to stop. The words had been hurtful to the both of them.   
    Yahiko's mouth slowed, still flapping a little and he considered the order of his older idol. He should stop, what could he say against Kenshin? Dude, KENSHIN! That was almost untouchable. Still, still, why did he feel so much pain? Kenshin was a part of that. If Kenshin could hurt him so much then surely the elder was wrong somehow. He needed to vent his feelings about being left behind all the time. It was mean; it was wrong of Kenshin to do this to him!   
    He would not allow tears to spring to his eyes; his pride prevented that, "You- you don't know how it feels to be left behind… At least Kaoru knows how it feels to be left behind. But all you do is leave people. You- you- you bullshit me, don't you? When you give me encouragement and tell me that I'm becoming strong. I know I'm not strong enough; you don't need to bullshit me. And it's unfair! Why do you crush me? Why do you never let me actually fight in a _real, important_ battle if I'm as strong as you say I am-"   
    "Yahiko!" Kaoru yelled fiercely, "Dame!" Kenshin's eyes were widened and shocked. She had her fists clenched, _this is the insult of all insults! He was rude before, but now, this is downright… cruel!_ "The only one who build you up is yourself; don't push it off on Kenshin! I am _telling_ you, as your shihondai and sensei: shut up." She dared the boy to defy her with her eyes. On the inside her heart was writhing.   
    Yahiko stood and began to leave, "You all suck," and then he was gone.   
    Everyone looked over to Kenshin to see how he was coping with this verbal slap in the face. The shocked, hurt expression was gone, but only replaced by a thoughtful mask and possibly a prosthetic smile. Once Yahiko was out of the room Kaoru slumped from her emotional exhaustion visibly. Usually Kenshin was the person to comfort in this type of situation, however, he didn't seem to want to stir. Kaoru didn't have the optimism or the understanding of little boys to comfort anyone, and she had been crying much too much as of late. Sano was still too much of a little boy himself to do much good. That left Megumi to be the voice of reason.   
    "Kaoru-chan, Ken-san, I'm sure he didn't mean everything he said. He's very hurt and angry right now…" Megumi tried to look their way encouragingly.   
    "Yea!" Sano tried, "He's just a kid; don't take it so bad." Well, he had run out of things to say.   
    Kaoru defeatedly sat down and sighed. She wasn't feeling so angry anymore and she was only left with her pain and guilt. "I'm sorry," conceded her stressful form. She knew not what else to say; she was sorry.   
    Sano perked up, "You don't have to be sorry, Jo-chan; we understand," he nudged Megumi, who nodded. "We're gonna still be friends anyway and it's only what, three years?"   
    Kaoru smiled thankfully at the larger man's comfort, "At least." Her voice did not match her smile.   
    There was a long awkward silence, "So…" Megumi, the lady of the group, said conversationally. "I'm going to head back to the clinic. All of us have a lot of thinking to do. I suppose I can spare the time to come back tomorrow morning to say goodbye to Ken-san."   
    Kaoru raised an eye.   
    "A nice, loooong, goodbye. Maybe I should take him with me to the clinic and return him to you tomorrow. Ohohohohoho! ^-.-^" Fox ears appeared on the top of her head with a "fwop!"   
    "Over my dead body!!" Kaoru challenged angrily. She had stepped onto one knee and raised a threatening fist. Little did she notice that at her wording Kenshin had given her a fleeting, fearful look and then quickly hidden it.   
    "Maa, Maa, minna…"   
    Sano had occupied himself with cleaning his teeth with his fishbone. He sighed in a "I'm-too-cool-for-this" way, however stood and announced, "Well, kitsune, if your ready to stop teasing Tanuki and actually leave I can't just let you walk home in the dark." He also pretended to be too cool to look her in the eye, although it was clear he was just trying to seem like he didn't like the appealing fox-doctor.   
    "I think the one who needs a keeper is you…" her reply lost its meaning in the fact that she stood to walk with him. Kaoru and Kenshin had, of course, already stood to see them out and watched as they faded away into the darkness together. Nothing much else was said while the two cleaned up and they went to bed without discussing anything.   
  
  
  
Don't hurt me because it's late!!!! **Chapters will be out more often** because I'm making them shorter. I've got the next thirteen chapters semi-planned. Compared to my old 20 pg chapters, now they will be less than 10. Each chapter is split into groups of about 3.** I haven't decided whether I will give them the same names. What do you think?   
Review!!!!!!**   
And read Jade-Anime's fic, cause its good. And I say so... She updates daily! :flails: :dies: 


	7. Goodbye! :tear:... :strange look:

Whaaaaaaaaaaah! It's hard to write this fic but I do it anyway!! :has writers block: bear with me! I'm NOT dropping this fic! I think we've had enough sad and mushy stuff for now, let's have some fun!   
  
Lololololololololololololololololol!!!!!!!!!!!! -see end notes to see what I'm laughing about.**   
  
    *English*   
    :actions:   
    _thoughts_   
    **Warning**: I was in a really strange mood when I wrote this. Well, I've proven that I can write well!!! That doesn't mean I have to… right?   
    Disclaimer: If I owned Rurouni Kenshin, WHY would I be writing fics?! Does George Lucas write Star Wars fics? I don't think so! Anyway… this proves I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.   
  
    Vocab   
Misao-taichi- Misao and everyone   
Genki- energetic (happy-ish)   
Datte- but   
Iya! … Nanda mo nai!- Nothing! Not a thing!   
Naze- Why?   
Bakayero- idiot (at least that's how it sounds like it should be spelled)   
Kitsune- fox   
Mou- jeez (I'm no longer translating things twice)   
Shinai/Bokken- one's a bamboo sword and one's a wooden sword, but poor MaraJadeblu-dono doesn't know which one's which @.@, can anyone help her out? :sounds like 'Blues Clues':   
Ee- feminine affirmative   
Ano…- Um… or Excuse me…   
Ore mo iku- I'm going too. (Notes at bottom)*   
**SOMEONE PLEASE SUGGEST A BETTER WAY FOR ME TO DO THIS!!! :goes insane writing translations: Some are justified… but others… I mean, ack!! Ano and nani are basics!!!**   
Nani?!! - What?!!.   
Chikisho!- Damnit!   
Tanuki buuuuuuuusu! - Racoon/ Ugly old hag!   
  
    Chapter 6: Goodbye! :tear:… :strange look: Part II!!!   
  
    I finished the last letter, the one to Misao. I had my letters for Sanosuke and Megumi with me. Unlike the letters to Tae/Tsubame and Misao-taichi, the letters I had for Yahiko, Megumi and Sano were from me personally, and they were not explanations of my disappearance.   
    I was disappointed to see that Yahiko had already left in the morning. He wasn't going to stay to say goodbye. In fact, he had packed all his stuff. It was true, there wasn't much left at the dojo for him… and he was angry… but man was I going to miss that little pain in the ass. I really would have rathered that I had left while on relatively good terms with him but I supposed it couldn't be helped. I couldn't postpone leaving.   
    This was the morning I was to leave. The morning _we_ were to leave. I repressed the fourth sigh I had almost let out in the past minute and a half. No! I snapped at myself. Genki! I must be genki! Besides, it wasn't so bad… I would still have Kenshin. I needed to grow up! It wasn't suitable for a girl my age to cry so much and be so dependant. I shouldn't need comfort. I didn't need Kenshin to treat me like a child; I didn't need to be fussed over!   
    I sighed.   
    I refused to be sucked back into some sort of pathetic crying fit. Megumi had taught me that lesson back when Kenshin left me. I couldn't just mope. I needed to be strong. Otherwise, it was a waste of precious time to sit around skulking. _I have things I need to do._   
    Like pack. _Let's see, I have my clothes, undergarments, toiletries, pictures, some of my dad's old stuff, my knick-knacks, different shoes, the things my mother left me, lots of bokken and shinai, my training gi and hakama, my wind chimes and every single ribbon I've ever owned. There; all the necessities._ After some consideration I thought that maybe I had packed a little too much, _Datte- the more I bring… the less I'll buy!_ I smiled.   
    As I packed I tried not to think about what the things I was bringing meant to me, or what the things I was leaving behind meant to me.   
  
    "Kaoru-dono… do you really need so much stuff?" Kenshin asked as he carted away Kaoru's multitude of luggage… on his back.   
    "Why are you complaining? You offered to carry it! I'm carrying most of it anyway," Kaoru responded as she lugged her largest bag of luggage full of clothes over the ground.   
    "But you're bulkier than I am de gozaru."   
    WHAM!   
    The luggage Kaoru was struggling with was suddenly lifted off the ground with ease and slammed full force into the red headed rurouni's upper half.   
    "Oooorooro…" came the muffled sound of Kenshin's voice from under everything Kaoru had ever owned. After restacking they trudged once more into the woods where the ship was. Kenshin kept silent but thought angrily, _It's so like Sano to abandon me with Kaoru to do the work._ :Shuffle: _He's probably sleeping late right now._ :Pull: _Sure, leave the small guy to carry all the stuff._ :Drag: _"He's superhuman… besides the limits of his '5'3, twenty-four inch waist' frame he could lift mountains"_ :Glare: _Sanooooooo…_ :Heft:   
    "Kenshin, what are you glaring at?"   
    "Hm?" Kenshin looked up confusedly, he sweatdropped when he realized he had narrowed his eyes and glared intensely at an invisible Sano walking leisurely in front of him with the total added weight of a fishbone to carry. Nervously he dropped one of he bags he was carrying and his hand went behind his head, "Iya! Hehehehe… Nanda mo nai!"   
    Kaoru's eyes became murderous and triangular with a slight twitch, "You just dropped my mother's favorite vase…"   
    "Oro?!" Kenshin gave the dropped bag a terrified look.   
    After a long pause he added, "Why do you have that anyway…?"   
  
    Kenshin and Kaoru stood outside the ship with the luggage and waited for their friends to come so that they could say goodbye. From off to the right they finally heard the sound of some yelling.   
    "Sano! I'm telling you you're wrong you idiot! It's this way!"   
    "Yer headin' west! We need to walk east! It's that simple, you dork!"   
    "Sano, what direction does the sun rise from?"   
    "East, naze?."   
    "The sun's rising from over there bakayero!!"   
    "That's why we need to go west!"   
    "YOU JUST SAID WE NEEDED TO GO EAST!"   
    :looooooong pause:   
    There was a crashing sound as Katsuhiro and Sanosuke finally plowed through the last bush in between them and the ship. Katsu's eyes went wide and shaky at the sight of the futuristic metal vehicle. His jaw dropped.   
    "It's like I told ya'" Sano said as he patted Katsu's shoulder and walked pass the amazed man gawking to stand in front of Kenshin. "Sorry for being late and all. I was just talking with Katsu and time flew… before you knew it he had us lost in the woods." Kaoru raised a skeptical eyebrow and Kenshin sweatdropped.   
    "Man Kenshin, you look like shit, what happened? Fell into a ditch?"   
    -.-x Kenshin gave him an annoyed disbelieving look.   
    "Sano why-" Kaoru started.   
    "SANOSUKE! Get your butt over here NOW!" Everyone looked confusedly at everyone else. Was that just Megumi's voice?   
    "Kitsune?" Sano looked towards the yelling part of the woods.   
    "Well?" Although the bushes were in the way, everyone could almost see Megumi put her hands on her hips.   
    It was the perfect chance for Sanosuke to gain the fox-doctors affection, the perfect time to do something nice and charming and-   
    "Why don't YOU come over HERE?" With his head held high, Sano blew his chances.There was a sound of a struggle and a bunch of snapping noises. "Mou! Sano you are the biggest, most immature pain in the ass-"   
    "And you're asking me for help?" Sano commented disbelievingly on her choice of words.   
    Megumi grunted, there was another snap, a large thump and then Megumi's body poked out of the shrubbery. She was struggling to pull something will all her might but it wouldn't budge.   
    Kenshin-gumi sweatdropped. "Umm… Would you like some help Megumi-dono?"   
    Megumi's head swung to face him; she looked at him with triangular angry eyes and flames seemed to spring up around her, "No thank you," she said with a fanglike deathly voice.   
    To Kenshin's right he had another unhappy customer, "So you'll help her but you complain and insult me when _I_ need help?!" Blue flames and triangular eyes ensued on Kaoru's part.   
    "Orooooo…" Kenshin started to back away slowly.   
    "What are you dragging?" Katsu asked.   
    "Don't you DARE run away!" Kaoru yelled. Somehow she had acquired a shinai.   
    "Oro!" Kenshin ran… smart little boy… Kenshin ran.   
    Megumi calmed, "It's my trunk."   
    "Trunk?" everyone asked, even Kaoru who had been busy beating Kenshin over the head while holding him by his gi. She let the swirly-eyed man drop and looked quizzically at Megumi.   
    "Ee, trunk."   
    "Ano, Megumi-san… why do you have a trunk?" Kaoru asked what everyone was thinking in a very confused way.   
    Megumi flipped her hair; "I'm coming with you, silly."   
    Everyone's mouths hung open and they had small surprised dots for eyes. As a delayed reaction Kaoru fell over. Question marks floated amongst the crowd.   
    "Why are you so surprised? I suppose one more adventure before I return to Aizu is a good idea. Normally I wouldn't, but you see," her eyes became sparkly, "I have the chance to really make amends for what I've done. I can learn how to be a better doctor in the future. In fact, I might become the best, most well educated, foxiest doctor in Japan! ^~.~^ Ohohoho." When she opened her eyes she looked at Kenshin levelly, "Then I can return to my family with pride." Kenshin's confused eyes finally lost their confused glaze and popped back into understanding.   
    Kaoru could hardly make a sound, but she finally spit out about the third (and easiest to say) thing she was thinking, "Who said you could come?" Somehow Kaoru managed to put pride into that statement while on her side on the ground.   
    Megumi shot her an evil look that warned her of DOOM! Um… yea…. "I've already spoken to Soiya-san about it. Not only did he say there was no problem in bringing me, but he also assured me that he could pull strings to get me into a medical school. It's so nice to have love sick men do whatever I tell them."   
    Sano and Kenshin frowned. Kenshin frowned because Dom seemed way too happy go lucky with putting his friends lives on the line. The less people that came the better, _Shouldn't there be a restriction on messing with the space time continuum de gozaru ka?_   
    "Ah… right…" Sano added, on of his hands went behind his head and he looked distractedly towards the spaceship. "I almost forgot. Ore mo iku."   
    "NANI?!!!!" Everyone except Katsu and Sano promptly fell over.   
  
    _When are they gonna say their damn goodbyes and leave?!_ I thought with severe annoyance. I looked at the bags anxiously from my hiding spot behind one of the legs of the ship that holds it up. Kaoru and Kenshin were still standing too close to the bags for me to risk it, _Where the heck is Sano?!_   
    Right on cue I heard a crashing in the woods and then that large dolt's voice yelling directions or something. Kenshin and Kaoru turned their attention that way luckily and I made a stealthy run for it. Sano wasn't even out of the woods yet by the time I had reached my chosen large bag of Kaoru's stuff.   
    The bags were under the ship and shaded pretty well right next to where the platform would descend. I opened Kaoru's bag and almost blushed. There were all the contents of her clothes and underclothes! But no, I was too cool to blush.   
    However, I had to consider this, both the clothes and I couldn't fit in the bag (it was already overstuffed). I took a large armful of garments and carefully stepped away from the luggage. As unnoticeably as I could I dumped the clothes behind the nearest bush. Luckily, I repeated this action about six times without getting caught when I could finally fit in the bag. Then I ripped a hole in the side and peered out to see what was going on.   
    Everyone had just asked a question or something. Megumi answered them, "Ee, trunk." I furrowed my brow, _what are they talking about?_   
    "Ano… Megumi-san, why do you have a trunk?" _Good question,_ I added to myself.   
    "Blah blah blah- I'm coming with you." I almost shouted out angrily. _Wait! Megumi gets to go, but not me?! What the hell is that?! You can just go and say, "ooh, look at me, I'm going!" and go? Then why am I sitting here in Kaoru's clothing with limited air looking through a rip in a bag?_   
    I listened for possible answers, "Blah blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah blah. Blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah… Blah- I've already spoken to Soiya-san about it. Not only did he say there was no problem in bringing me-" So that was the key! I had to go behind Kaoru and Kenshin's back and ask the foreigner guy! Damn!   
    Then Sano started saying something that ended in "Ore mo iku."   
    "NANI?!" I yelled from inside the bag. They were all going to leave me behind? Everyone?! Chikisho!!! I at least thought that Kenshin would get Sano to take care of me or something but Sano was willing to just leave me here? Why that stupid-wannabe-ahou-CHICKEN! Before I knew it I popped out of the bag and stormed toward the fallen Kenshin-gumi.   
  
    _Oroooooo… Sano too?!_ Kenshin thought from his spot on the floor. _Hey, wait a second… he gave me the impression he would be taking care of Yahiko!_ "Sano," Kenshin lifted himself up. After long consideration of what words he should say he came up with, "Why are you coming?"   
    Sano sprouted fangs, "And why can't I?"   
    Kenshin put his finger up in the air, "Because you said you were staying here with Yahiko de gozaru."   
    Sano faltered, "U---h---… I knew that! Bring him then!"   
    Kenshin smacked his forehead with a defeated sigh.   
    "Oi!!!!!!" Yahiko yelled as loudly and annoyingly as he could manage. _Well, that finally got their attention._ "So everyone can go but me?"   
    Kenshin looked right and left for help- then 'eeped' in an 'oro' way when he realized none would come. "Well… it's not like we knew they were coming de gozaru… he he he…"   
    Yahiko twitched, "So I take it I'm going after all?"   
    Kenshin sweatdropped.   
    Kaoru to the rescue!!!! "Yahiko- why are you here spying on us?"   
    Now it was Yahiko's turn to sweatdrop. He couldn't very well say "I was just hanging around, sitting in piles of your underwear." Well, he could, but then she would kill him. _Umm… must… save… ass!!_ he thought frantically, "I was… too… um… angry to say goodbye but… I wanted to watch you guys leave." He looked down to hide his shame at lying.   
    Kaoru blinked. She was surprised to find just how glad she was that he was that Yahiko had wanted to say goodbye to her. Her brow furrowed and slowly she walked over to the boy that had become something less than a son and more than a younger brother to her. Kaoru couldn't help but smile and bend down to try and see Yahiko face to face. Finally, when Yahiko did look up, she couldn't help but give him an unexpected hug.   
    Kenshin suppressed a groan, _There's no way I'm going to win this de gozaru. Yahiko's safety may be at stake, but I just can't win! It's not that I want to leave him. That's not it at all. It seems every time I try to keep my family safe they choose to hurl themselves into danger de gozaru yo._ He sighed as he pictured a scene where Kenshin-gumi in chibi form came to a forked road with signs. One said **DANGER!!!!** in large red letters, and the other one said **SAFETY ^.^** in large white angelic letters. Yahiko, Kaoru, Sano and Megumi point to the "Danger" sign, smiled and started frolicking down that road happily. Kenshin was left behind at the fork pointing down the "Safety" road with his finger up and looking on helplessly and unnoticed with big round eyes and an open mouth. ***   
    Yahiko finally pulled away, "What are you doing, freaky emotional hag?!" He looked away proudly.   
    "What did you just say?!" Kaoru tackled him and held him by his gi.   
    Everything seemed to be settled and clicked back into place when Yahiko laughed, disappeared and then reappeared behind Kaoru running (with Kaoru not far behind) and yelling, "Tanuki buuuuuusu!!!"   
    Kenshin sighed, "So what is your reason for coming de gozaru ka?" he questioned Sano.   
    "DIE! Die die die die die!!" Yahiko and Kaoru ran around the conversing pair.   
    "Maa, maa…"   
    "I figured, 'Why not?'-"   
    "Because you were going to watch over Yahiko until I got back-"   
    "I could use one more adventure, and anyway I was planning on traveling pretty soon. I might as well go into the future with everyone else, ne? Besides… I can see that now I have to keep an eye on you and Jo-chan- make sure you don't do anything embarrassing." An elbow jutted into Kenshin's ribs suggestively.   
    "Huh?" After finishing that bright remark something large and hard hit Kenshin in the head. It happened to be Yahiko.   
    "Take that you-" Kaoru stopped, _Damnit! I hit him again!_ "Gomen Kenshin!"   
    "Oroooooooooo!" he "responded".   
    There was a drawn out warning beep that suddenly emitted from the ship that made everyone stop. It was a warning signal for the lowering platform from the belly of the ship. Sawyer was on it with Tackets. The former was sweatdropping but smiling none the less. "I'm afraid one of these days I am going to come back- and you' will all have killed each other. ^.^" Everyone laughed. When the platform reached the bottom Tackets started loading all of the luggage onto the platform silently. "So what have you all decided?"   
    Kaoru looked at all of her friends lovingly. She let out a sigh but as she turned it was very clear just how grateful she was and how lucky she felt. "It looks like everyone is coming. Kenshin-"   
    Kenshin couldn't express his extreme disapproval considering he was out cold on the ground in an entangled heap with Yahiko. @.@   
    "Yahiko…" she said with annoyance and a glare, "Sano," Sano smiled and raised an eyebrow (enough to say "Aren't I just as cool as it gets?"), "Megumi-san and I."   
    Sawyer smiled in approval, or at least that was what it looked like. It could have been a smile of empathy for Kaoru's happiness, it could have been a bit of hidden envy, it could have been pride that so many people "believed" in his cause (that was unlikely), but nooooooobody knew… It was the biggest mystery in the world!   
    At that time…   
    In Japan…   
    In Tokyo…   
    In those woods… yea.   
    Over in the corner under the ship Tackets struggled and sweated over moving the bags. The man _was_ rather out of shape. He was pleasantly surprised to find one of the largest bags was almost completely empty and very light. It was one of those times where life builds you up just to let you down.   
    "Tackets!" Sawyer yelled with little fangs poking out of his mouth. "You forgot one!" He pointed to Megumi's trunk. Tackets' mouth fell open, his head rolled to the side and he looked as if he was ready to fall over. _Serves him right, not learning Japanese and making me do all the work,_ thought Sawyer.   
    Kenshin probably would have offered to help, but at the time he was still unconscious with Megumi and Kaoru arguing over how to properly fan him awake. "I've done this thousands of times! Trust me," Kaoru would say.   
    "Well I'm a _doctor_ and I tell you that you have the wrong angle!"   
    "Oh, bite me." It continued downhill from there.   
    Sano, who was saying goodbye to Katsu, _could_ have helped Tackets… "Tackets! Oi!" Tackets looked up dejectedly hopeful that someone would help him… to be hit in the gut with Sano's travel bag. "Arigatoyo," Sano graced him.   
    Tackets murmured English curses no one understood his whole time trekking back to the platform with Megumi's large and incredibly heavy trunk.   
    By the time the luggage was on the platform and everyone who was going as well, Kenshin and Yahiko had been revived and therefore could wave goodbye to Katsu. Kaoru had thanked him and given him the letters to deliver and Megumi flirted with him a little… possibly just to make Sano jealous?   
    Actually, Sano hardly ever got jealous since he had absolutely _no_ claim to Megumi. Megumi just wanted to make sure that they were both VERY AWARE that he had no claim to her.   
    They were all ready to leave within the hour. Not without complications...   
    "Sano, I thought you were afraid of stuff like this... you know, technology... metal things that move..." Megumi teased.   
    "Nice try kitsune, but things really can't any weirder than how they are already. I'm not "afraid". You must he kidding! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... :sweatdrop:" Sano looked away embarrassingly.   
    "You're shaking..."   
    "Am not!"   
    As the last thin lines of light disappeared through the crack that was closing and Kenshin-gumi prepared to completely change their life forever, leave behind their world and time, everything they knew... all of a sudden Sano freaked, "OH MY GOD GET ME OFF THIS THING! I JUST KNOW THAT THERE'S FREAKING SCREWY MAGIC INVOLVED IN THIS LET ME OUUUUT!!" He made a dive for the crack but was held back from crushing every bone in his body by everyone from Megumi to Sawyer. (Tackets stood there and hoped that he would crush something vital for that stunt he pulled with the bag.)   
    "Should I let him off?" Sawyer questioned sympathetically. He was assaulted with two strong, feminine 'yes's and one strong feminine 'no'. Kaoru and Megumi looked critically at Kenshin... who diverted his eyes and head quickly. Sawyer sighed humorously, "Oh, okay. Well in that case:" All of a sudden Sano calmed. In fact, Sano ceased to move. Kenshin-gumi became concerned.   
    "What did you do to him de gozaru?" Kenshin asked concernedly.   
    Megumi felt his forehead and checked his pulse, "Anesthetic?"   
    Sawyer innocently held up a concealed gun-like object and nodded.   
    "Was that really necessary...?"   
    Everyone sweatdropped.   
    And then, all seven of them finally left.   
  
  
  
* **Ore mo iku**- there is a story behind figuring this out, but first, **to teach you why it means what it means! ** Any term for 'I' such as 'watashi' (for girls) 'ore' (for guys) and 'sessha' (for… well, Kenshin) + mo = 'Me too'. 'Iku' is somewhere along the lines of 'to go'.   
    How I figured this out: I have SERIOUSLY badly subbed Yu yu Hakusho tapes. I was watching the end of the series last night (omg! Goodness :smile: )last night and Botan says: "Watashi mo iku!", which was not translated (bc its so badly subbed). I already knew what "___ mo" meant because of a fic I read, and I knew what "iku" was because I use "Ikuzu!!!!" all the time (I got it from Sano.. you know, "IKUZU!!! KYOTO!!!" {And then… Sano got even more lost…}) And I had heard "iku" used in other animes so I put 2 and 2 together, got 5 and then figured it meant "I'm going too". Which, made sense in the context of what Botan was saying. Ha ha! :is done saying useless stuff: Wait… no I'm not! -   
  
****Kenshin… in English:** Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I actually bought a legal copy of Rurouni Kenshin!!!! On DVD!!! LEGAL!! ME! I'm laughing at the english version. :is funny: The best voice is Shishio, he's the guy that does the english version of Spike in Cowboy Bebop. Man I love that guy! Kenshin's voice isn't bad, but it doesn't compare with Mayo Suzakaze and the guy can't 'oro' for his life. It's one of the main guy characters with the rather high voice from Pilot Candidates. Sano's voice is pretty not Sano-y. I mean, C'mon, you gots to roll the r's like Yuji Ueda (Sano's seiryuu)!! It's either someone from DBZ or Pilot Candidates. Lessee, who else is funny? Kaoru's voice… is, I think Boma? From DBZ English version :doesn't watch, can't spell Boama- is that it?: It's sooooooo not Kaoru. Chou has a "southern" accent. :cringe: And Soujiro? He's one of the little GIRLs from Pilot candidates!! :wince:   
  
The best part is that not one of them can pronounce Japanese correctly. Jeez, can't you hire a voice coach? I'd do it for free! I watched the outtakes (only some of which were real) and they kept messing up on the names of the attacks. The funniest was of course Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki, which ended up "Ama Kakala blah bleh… damn!" Imagine that from Hiko?! LOL.   
  
The worse part is hearing them say names. Kaoru is now: COWru, Sanosuke is now: SaNOske, Himura Kenshin is now: HeMURE-a Kenshin :sigh: CAMiya CASHin Riyu. (The reason that there is a 'ryu' is to shorten riyu!!! :ack, defeats purpose:) I couldn't bear it long enough to hear anything like Highten Mitsoruji Riyu. Btw, I got only one DVD :is broke: the one with the Shishio fight on it. Less than halfway through the first episode I needed to turn it off.   
  
I finally turned the Japanese version back on when Kenshin's "Ororororororo" turned into "Ah-H-h-H-h-H-h-H-h-H-h!!!!!HhHHh…!!!" during the character special monologue thingies. :sigh: That's why curiosity killed the cat. Myao. :dies: (Don't you dare revive me JadeAnime! If I have to listen to that one more-) :dies AGAIN:   
  
  
***Note to self… draw this. (Lol, as I was writing this I looked down to my DVD cover at a serious (and shirtless!!!) looking Kenshin. Ahhhh, he of many faces and voices make good shounen. Oroooo… I told you I was in a strange mood. :notice name of chapter:   
    Someone please shut me up!!! :dies for the THIRD time this rant: 


	8. Introductions, chaos, sci-fi, and mush.

    I apologize for the last chapter if it wasn't funny, but I DIDN'T HAVE ANY INSPIRATION FOR ANYTHING BUT STUPID KENSHIN INDUCED COMEDY!!   
    Finally, we are starting to get into my sci-fi volcano of ideas. If you don't like sci-fi, chances are you will skip through some of the 'unnecessary' paragraphs. But Doooooon't worry, there is plenty of mush and comedy in this chapter to save those people! If you do like sci-fi, I hope you like my writing style, and if you don't, tell me how I might improve.   
    Warning: Um… I have trouble writing this fic a lot of the time… I hope that I will get more into it soon, that's why the chapter took so long.   
    Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, it is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Jump comics as well as some anime ppl… ^.^ However, the characters of Sawyer and Tackets are mine.   
  
     < b>This is _not_ an actual chapter… actually, as the title says- it is a bonus scene. This is a chapter I started writing when I was only going to have Kaoru and Kenshin go into the future, it's a goodbye scene between Sano and Kenshin that no longer fits in, but I was told to put it in because it was funny.   
  
    Bonus scene ^.^   
  
    Ack! I can't find it!!!!!!! Nyoooooooooooo----- Well, I guess that means I'll have to actually write a chapter… :sigh: >   
  
^.^ Vocab ^.^   
    Ore wa dake Tackets desu- I am called Tackets only… This might not be right, which is the point, b/c he's mocking them.   
    Abunai- Its dangerous! or Look out!   
  
  
  
    Chapter 6: Introductions, chaos, sci-fi, and mush.   
  
    The misfit crew aboard what they discovered to be a ship named Alexandria seemed to get along well. That is, Tackets and Sawyer got along with Kenshin-gumi, and Kenshin-gumi got along with Tackets and Sawyer. However… Tackets AND Sawyer couldn't get along for their life and… well, Kenshin-gumi… let's put it this way:   
  


"YAHIKO WHERE THE HELL IS MY UNDERWEAR YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!!!!!!"

  
    Chaos ensued, Kaoru sat on Yahiko for an hour until he passed out to try and get him to confess. Her and Kenshin had an argument about the treatment of children (while Yahiko was unconscious- otherwise he would have protested) and Sano spent most of his time ignoring them all. After Kenshin and Kaoru's "argument", Megumi was busy treating Kenshin's wounds.   
    There were three rooms on the ship. One had belonged to Tackets, one to Sawyer, and the other was reserved for Kaoru. Tackets and Sawyer (after an hour of arguing) had "decided" (Sawyer decided) that all the provisions that had been stored in Kaoru's room should be moved to Tackets room and Sawyer would also sleep in there. You see, that was the only other room with a bathroom. Originally Sawyer's room was the room for storage and Sawyer roomed with Tackets, but when Sawyer got sick of Tackets' uncleanliness Sawyer decided he preferred to live in the pantry rather than with Tackets.   
    Sadly enough, that pantry that wasn't even made for human residence became the room of -you guessed it- two fully grown (cough cough Kenshin) men and one little boy who swore that he still felt like he wasn't getting enough air.   
    Meanwhile Megumi and Kaoru stayed in their nice, large, clean room all alone and comfortable with their own bathroom. More arguments followed, usually between Sano and Megumi, and Yahiko and Kaoru. After much debating, which Yahiko proved fair at, it was decided that Yahiko would sleep in the room with Kaoru and Megumi, and Kenshin and Sano would share the hole in the wall- I mean, the pantry… room… thing.   
    After the rooming was arranged, Sawyer called everyone into the common room on the ship's system audio links (or Ssal) for "reintroductions".   
    As always, there was still only one translator- and it went to Kaoru. It was decided that anything Sawyer had to teach would be taught to Kaoru first since her skills would be needed, and then she could teach other interested members. For this meeting she served as translator for all.   
    "Welcome aboard the star ship time compressor, Alexandria (named for the Roman Empire). I'll be your captain, Dominic Sawyer. That is, Dominic. I really would prefer if you would call me by my first name. I am not used to being called 'Mr. Sawyer', frankly, it's disturbing." He smiled. "So, will you call me that? Dominic?"   
    "Do mi ni ku…"   
    "Do me ni ku…"   
    "Do ma-"   
    "Okay! Stop!" Dominic yelled amiably. "Call me 'Dom', I don't mind, all my friends call me 'Dom'"   
    "Dom."   
    "Dom."   
    "Dom-san."   
    "Dom-dono."   
    "Dom-kun."   
    "That's wonderful," Dom smiled. "Now, there are some more important pieces of information I have to give you in case of an emer-"   
    "Is there anything we should call groucho?" Yahiko pointed his thumb sideways at a quiet, pissed looking Tackets.   
    Dom translated and waited for an answer for Tackets to give. "*You call me Tackets.*" Tackets glared at them all, then mocked them, "Ore wa dake Tackets desu."   
    "ANYWAY," Dom continued before a glaring contest could break out, "There are some very important things that you need to know in case anything happens to this ship and Tackets and I aren't around." As Kaoru translated Dom rose and walked over to the semi-circular consol. He waited for everyone to follow his lead before slowly and purposefully pressing four buttons. Out of the side of the wall near the consol, out to the left, eight cylindrical canisters spun out to a stop for their convenience.   
    "These are oxygen masks inside the canisters. If anything ever breaks and the ship starts loosing air, press those buttons and use these." Then Dom started talking mostly to Kaoru, "I think it would be wise if I started teaching you how to fly this ship in case of emergency, then, if the others are interested, you can teach them."   
    The rest of the audience was growing impatient, and with that Dom left promise in his eyes for a conversation later. "Okay, this would be outlandishly improbable, but in case of an attack, either let Tackets and I handle the defenses, or if we are somehow impaired, still, do not try to arm the ship. There is one escape pod… it was meant to fit three but it could probably fit five or six-"   
    "Five or six?!" Kaoru yelled, everyone wondered what she was talking about. "There are seven of us!"   
    Dom smiled even though Kaoru had grabbed him in a death grip and was shaking him by the collar. "Yes, I know, and that's counting Ya- Yakiko? Yahiko as half a person. So at best one of us would be left behind."   
    Kaoru crossed her arms, "I'm afraid that's not good enough." She challenged Dom to resist with her eyes.   
    Somewhere behind the fight, completely clueless, Kenshin sighed, _Poor man hasn't yet learned that it is never a good idea to argue with Kaoru-dono… she's so stubborn ^.^x_ he thought affectionately.   
    "There's no need to get worked up! There are slim chances that will happen anyway, even the Nomkinor haven't attacked a human vessel in two years- and we'll be by Earth! There's no room for other aliens on earth- its known as the most crowded 'prison' in the galaxy!" Dom backed away from the wrath of Kaoru's shinai.   
    "You would leave one of us behind?" She brandished the weapon threateningly.   
    "No! Just Tackets…"   
    "Hey!" Besides that protest there was a long pause.   
    "I don't think I would leave _anyone_ behind," Kaoru commented. "Not even him."   
    "Kaoru-dono! Abunai!" Kaoru turned to question just in time for a gun to go sailing by towards Dom's currently goosebumped forehead.   
    However, Dom had no time to be swirly-eyed, "What do you mean, 'Leave me behind'?!"   
    "Oh good, you had the safety on… I mean- Of course I was only kidding!" Dom shook his head, "Just a joke… we would never leave you…" the fact that Dom looked away like a lying four-year-old and contained doubt in his voice did not soothe Tackets. The man contented himself with murmuring curses whiles Dom continued.   
    "That's another thing I must address. Now that we have breached the atmosphere it's time to 'time compress'. You may feel some slight discomfort at first but that won't last. I will have to charge the ship from the back so I won't be around, but if any of you get seasick, this isn't much different." Kaoru and Yahiko paled. "Our compression will only last about a day, you can probably sleep through a lot of it-"   
    Kaoru and Yahiko's hands shot up, "Yes?"   
    "What if we _do_ get seasick?" They asked.   
    Dom blinked in understanding, "In that case…" he disappeared into his room and came out with some sturdy plastic bags that weren't as flexible as, say, grocery bags, "In that case I will teach you all how to dispose of wastes first!" His finger went up and he smiled.   
    The bathroom was the next lesson from the organic encyclopedia- I mean, Dom. After being shown the glory of waste disposal everyone went back into the cockpit and took their respective seats, whether that be in the seat next to Dom (like Tackets), or around the circular table connected to the wall (like everyone else). After setting some calculations, Dom said a silent prayer in hopes that Tackets would be a dependable navigator and left his seat to disappear into the back hall, which had not yet been toured. He headed down the white corridor to the end of the short hall and opened the first door to the LE chamber (Life Energy Chamber). In that area he rid himself of his clothes, donned a skintight uniform that connected to a helmet and left only his hands and the underside of his forearms bare.   
    The next door, with heavy locks and an airtight seal was opened and locked from the inside. On the wall Dom pulled off a band to go around his arm that would monitor his bodily functions. The prick of the needle on the inside hardly hurt to someone that was so used to it by then.   
    Back in the cockpit Tackets saw the monitor click on and checked the energy readings. When the go button clicked on he affirmed the energy withdrawal and readied the compressor. When the energy levels of the ship started to climb he activated the compressor and hoped for the best.   
    All experienced a tight feeling in the chest and a faint dizziness before the motion sickness started. Kaoru was the first to hide her head in a bucket. Yahiko would not have started to throw up if he hadn't been reminded he was supposed to feel sick by Kaoru, and soon both of them were making unpleasant sounds as they puked their guts out into a bucket-bag. When they looked up they were rather annoyed to see that Sano had squeezed tightly away from them and was currently suffocating Megumi, and Kenshin seemed very interested in the floor that was at the bottom of the other side of the booth, out of the line of fire, so to speak. But when Kenshin heard Kaoru groan while Yahiko continued to barf he looked and saw her in the epitome of misery, she sunk down into her booth and was very pale, her whole aura seemed to scream: "comfort me Kenshin", or maybe that was just his subconscious throwing that in for fun. Anyway, he moved over next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Daijoubu de gozaru ka?"   
    Kaoru only groaned and shook her head, then decided that that was too much to bear and buried her mouth in her bucket-bag.   
    _Aw,_ Kenshin thought, _I wish there was something comforting I could say or do. I would do anything, even take her pain, to make her feel better de gozaru._ Kenshin opened his mouth to say something nice, but he quickly reconsidered after thinking about how far his mouth had helped him. Instead of making Kaoru feel worse, as he was slightly aware he frequently did, he looked to Sanosuke for help.   
    "Man, I wish those bags weren't see through."   
    Thank you, Sano.   
  
    The ship was finally peaceful. Tackets was busy navigating, Dom was gone, and Yahiko was sleeping on Kaoru, who in turn was sleeping on a smug looking Kenshin. For once, Sano and Megumi were managing not to argue as they looked out of the front window at the awing, sparkling space. There were more stars shining from space than one could ever think imaginable, and although the ship never moved from its spot, there was quite a show without movement. Comets and shooting stars sped across the view in flashing lines of white light and the twinkling stars glimmered and vibrated in the eyes of their onlookers.   
    Sano had just smiled at something that Megumi had huffed at and all seemed right with the world. When she commented on how beautiful Earth looked from space out of the port view window Sano noticed how the shivering stars reflected beautifully in Megumi's mahogany red eyes with the contrast of the bright ocean and thinned clouds over Earth.   
    "So when did you stop being freaked out about being on this ship?" Megumi raised an eyebrow without turning to Sano.   
    He knew that she was just playing games with him, but at least they were nice, quiet, safe games. "I always shove my fears to the side when I see something I like. Right now I can see Earth reflected in your eyes."   
    Megumi returned his stare questioningly, but soon the gaze became amused. "That was a pretty good one, did it take you long to think it up?"   
    "Just tellin' it like it is," Sano put in. The two had an unspoken game going on to see how many pick up lines one could incorporate on a daily basis. It didn't just include pick up lines though, the game had stretched into witty comments and Megumi had tried to include flirtations, but Sano didn't like to joke. He was a ladies' man, but he didn't like using people like that.   
    "Well, you're on a roll today; did you take your vitamins?"   
    "Ha ha."   
    "That was a cheap comeback."   
    "You're ruining the view."   
    "Do you suddenly feel more chicken-like? Should I lay you down?" Megumi tried her best to say that innocently, but ended up in a chorus of her signature laughter.   
    "Point, and point."   
    "I had to catch up with you."   
    "Kick a man when he's down," Sano said distractedly, he was considering using one of those oxygen masks to shut the fox up.   
    "At least I get points for it." She smirked.   
    "Yea, you win, kitsune, you're the better vixen." Sano pocketed his hands and walked back to his end of the couch after that. He didn't feel all that into playing games at the moment, although they were distracting him from his metal surroundings, but he was getting to serious about some deep romantic bull and he needed to recoolify his manly manliness. In other words, he and kitsune had some big emotional game going on and frankly he was afraid of becoming Kenshin. He also didn't want to lose his chances with Megumi forever. If he took it any slower he would go insane- and it wasn't because he was madly in love with her. He liked her enough to move on to some sort of relationship, but, as said, he wasn't Kenshin. Kenshin's pace of "I like a girl, let me do something about it" was slower than an egg being fried by hot gravel in February. Then again, kitsune didn't seem very willing to start anything, only to play around, and sometimes, when that just wasn't enough, Sano didn't feel like playing, this was one of those times.   
    After sitting around aimlessly for a while, Sano got bored; "I want some grub…" he wandered off.   
  
    Mwahahahahaha! Shorter chapters! Oh well, They are still pretty long, 5 pages. Verdana 11. This fic has been giving me so much trouble that I thought of dropping it. **If you like it, if you read it, PLEASE give me feedback!** Its so disheartening when I realize that the reason not many people review is because not many people read and if your reading please review! This is not easy for me to write and so I will have to take it slow. I have to admit that not getting many reviews makes it less fun to write- bc what the heck are you writing it for?!   
    In short:   
    **Reviews = I write more often with longer chapters!**   
  
    Its not a choice, Jimmy, that's just the way it is. Here lassie! Here boy… girl… dog! Hey you! 


	9. Introductions, chaos, sci-fi, and mush.

*English*   
:actions:   
_thoughts_   
**Warning**: Watch out for symbolism… I kinda like to do that ^.^, and hey, if you don't like symbolism, its not like Song of Solomon where you can't get along without it ^.^   
    Disclaimer: I own the future, I own Dom, I own Tackets… I own that really cool gun, and the ship ^.^ But… sadly, I don't own what really counts… and that's Rurouni Kenshin. DAMN YOU NOBUHIRO WATSUKI-SAMA! :cough cough:   
  
    Vocab   
doushitano- is there something wrong?   
Kakoi!- Cool!   
  
  
    Chapter 6: Introductions, chaos, sci-fi, and mush.   
  
    The time compression took slightly longer than Dom had planned because of an annoying time warp that appeared that slowed the ship down. They were about one day behind schedule when they came into space around Earth in between two large floating pillars and an arched docking bay above them.   
    Kenshin-gumi, and even Dom himself were amazed to see the "new earth" that the future beheld. It was, after all, only Dom's third time seeing Earth, and quite a sight to see. There were so many space stations orbiting Earth that it looked almost dangerous to navigate through, especially with all the traffic happening between the different space cities. Thousands of ships sparkled their way from one errand to another. The moon was so cluttered that it looked like one giant city. Large domes covered the surface and there were few places that the actual surface could be seen. Every open space was filled with a looming tower that had many layers of runways sticking out of it in circling patterns. The result was that the moon looked like a giant head of a morning star*.   
    To avoid too many collisions there was, as Dom explained later, a tack shaped guidance station that had a ball almost completely consisting of windows on the end of each spike and directed all the space ships in landing, flying, space compressing, and traffic. The indicated traffic areas could easily be seen, they were many ships clumped together, following each other in lines to or from a station in a consistency so dense it looked like a tube was guiding them. There was a small area of free space surrounding Alexandria and the time compression docking bay that they had appeared in. Since no one knew when a ship would appear inside they needed to be clear at all times. There was no way for a ship in a different time to signal their arrival and no way to contact a ship in a different time either.   
    Dom made the ship rise towards one of the docking holds in the arch and announced that since they were off schedule they would not need to leave the ship… and unfortunately wouldn't get to explore anything new before continuing their journey. He didn't have time to tour them around because he and Tackets needed to get their docking clearance, power supply, and get a departure ticket and so everyone needed to stay in the ship while they were gone. "Don't worry though, you won't be missing much. This docking station isn't much more special than any of the others you'll see when we reach the border station connected to Inok. The only thing different is that here is Earth, but you don't want to go down there anyway, and it would take years to get a ticket."   
    "Why's that?" Kaoru asked distractedly as she continued to stare in wonder out the window.   
    Dom smiled at her reaction, but was sobered by his own answer. "Most people can't get tickets to Earth because its too crowded, they have enough people down there without more coming in to just tour. Unless someone has a good reason and a reserved place to stay- no one gets into Earth anymore." His answer had captured her attention while the others were pointing and talking about the outside, oblivious to the conversation. "Earth, from what I hear, isn't that nice anyway. It's filthy, crowded, hot, not many people are welcoming or happy, the air would be so bad to the point of toxicity to you, there's no nature to look at, only a bunch of really tall buildings really close together. Some of them are impressive looking, the old ones, but nowadays they gave up on 'impressive' and moved on to 'efficient'. The only thing I can think of that would be interesting are the new spire pyramid buildings going up in Mexico-" his serious face broke into a grin, "I sound like I'm talking to some tourist coming to visit New York!" he laughed, "Nothing but tall buildings, bad air, and people!"   
    The semi-irony was lost on Kaoru.   
    "Sorry," Dom said after another good laugh. He calmed himself and strapped a pouch on diagonally over his shoulder, connected it to his belt, and holstered a gun. Kaoru stared at the gun with some amount of shock but Dom didn't notice. "I'll try and pick up some more translators while I'm up there." His voice brought her face back up to look at him. "Take care of the ship for me," he smiled and turned to leave.   
    Kaoru forgot to say goodbye but managed to close her hanging mouth before turning back to the consol. She leaned on it to get a better look out the window at the bridge of the ship. Craning her neck to see, she caught some last glimpses of the Earth before the ship was shadowed over while entering the docking bay. _How could such a big place seems so very small?_ she wondered. _The way Dom-kun described it you'd think it might be the size of a cherry. Now more than ever everything seems so confusing. Earth's not what I thought it was, the future isn't what I thought it would be, even Dom's not the person I thought he was! Are times still so bad that he has to carry around a gun when he leaves the ship? Haven't they improved at all from the time that Kenshin still carried a sword in the Meji Era? Does nothing ever improve?_ Kaoru's brow furrowed and the lights from the stations, the moon and the earth gave way to shadow.   
    Of course, there were always the lights from the ship that kept going, _Sure, sure it does, and it will and it did. That's what I'm here for, ne? The world- universe- will never be a perfect place, but there will always be people like Kenshin and I, and even Dom to make things better!_ Although she had made a decision, her brow still creased in concern.   


______________________________________________________   
  
* morning star- It's that thing at the end of a mace, only put on a stick.   
______________________________________________________

  
  
    Kenshin noticed Kaoru's slightly gloomy demeanor and broke away from his ogling friends to check on her. "Kaoru-dono?"   
    That snapped her out of her inner monologue, "Kenshin?"   
    "Doushitano de gozaru ka?"   
    Kaoru made a negative sound in the back of her throat.   
    After giving her a sideways glance he looked back through the bridge window and stayed his position next to Kaoru for support, figuring, correctly, that that was what she needed.   
    The ship reached the first docking room where the bottom to space was closed off, air filled the chamber and the top compartment was opened up to them, everyone watching gasped. A small round lift was elevating next to the ship on a pole to the observation deck, and on it were Tackets and Dom. The rest of the room was pure metal, and there were other ships settled around the hanger. Many were being repaired, as exposed by the crackling spurts of fiery metal flying into the air. Some were moving miraculously across the floor and out of the way of the new ship. Kaoru observed this and wondered how they were doing it; surely the ship didn't turn its engine on in the hanger to move around.   
    Kenshin pointed at the floor, "There are belts lining the floor that the ships are set on, the belts move the ships in a direction onto other belts and so on until they have everything where they want it de gozaru."   
    Eyes widened and smiles appeared as they watched the new technology do its work. There was a slight jolt, and the hanger began to move around when their ship was laid on a belt. "Kakoi!" Yahiko said in restrained excitement. Kenshin smiled at his consistent reaction to new things and felt a flicker of joy that he had ended up coming. It didn't last long though, and his happy thought soon faded into variations of dread about the unknown dangers his family would face.   
    "Earth is more beautiful than I ever imagined… don't you think?" Kaoru said to Kenshin when she sensed his mood shift slightly. She wanted to cheer him up as he had done for her.   
    "De gozaru."   
    She smiled, knowing that his choice of words was meant to return the favor once again and keep her spirits up.   
    "So what was Soiya-dono telling you?" The hanger did a spin, or rather the ship did, and they were all marveling at the different types of ships displayed to them.   
    "He was only reassuring me that we weren't missing anything on the station, that we would see something like it later, and that Earth wasn't that nice anyway… Do you really think Earth is as bad as he says it is?" She looked at his profile this time and held no small amount of concern in her voice. The concern was not only for her home planet, but also for Kenshin. She was worried how he would take seeing Earth in such a state and knowing that he could do nothing to help.   
    "I'm afraid so de gozaru…" his answer had come out more breathy and sad then he had intended and he tried not to react but he did curse himself inwardly. It wouldn't do for him to push off him worries on someone that had plenty of her own. The last thing he wanted to do was to worry Kaoru at such a time.   
    Kaoru's reaction though, was not the one he'd expected. She shifted a miniscule amount but all of a sudden Kenshin could feel her warm finger touching his on the consol where they were leaning, and her shoulder brushed his own as well. He would have smiled and moved his hand on top of hers like he strongly desired to, but his mind -which he resented- reminded him that that would be encouraging her attentions to him, and that was -apparently, although because of the way _he_ felt it didn't seem so- not what he wanted. He had agreed earlier that he had to put his feelings in check and stop his "unintentional" flirtations to save them both grief… he just couldn't remember why. He obeyed his mind for the moment, but inwardly agreed that he should stop thinking so much, and did nothing.   
    Kaoru lost all her nerve when Kenshin didn't react and stretched inconspicuously, thereby separating them. "So," she panicked, "how have you been sleeping because I've been sleeping fine and Megumi Yahiko and I are quite comfortable but I know that you and Sano don't have a lot of room so I was wondering if it was inhibiting your sleep, although you don't look tired, because I can tell when you don't sleep and-" she faltered in her rapid speech, "I… think… I'll go… over there!" She darted towards the rest of Kenshin-gumi and left a surprised looking Kenshin.   
    _I never seem to do anything right de gozaru!_ Kenshin stared after Kaoru numbly. _I didn't want to react, but I didn't want her to move, but I shouldn't have a problem with that, and now I'm just confused._ He smacked his head into an awaiting palm and faced the window to continue watching once again.   
  
    "I need five temporary identification passports," Dom addressed the cashier. A computer could have done the job she was doing but there were laws against using computers all the time. If there aren't computers doing the job that means that there were more jobs for the overwhelming population of humans that needed them.   
    There was another plus, humans could be argued with.   
    "Five?" she gave him a doubtful glare. "You're authorized for one. One adept, one passport." Her accent was quite different from Dom's, or any human that Dom had been accustomed to back in his own time. Accents were still determined by where one lived… but due to globalization it was in a much more general way. There was the "Earth accent", and the "Upper class Earth accent", the "Inner planets accent" for all the planets, satellites and stations around Earth behind the asteroid belt, conversely there were "Outer planet accents" and "Outer Solar System accents". If one could tell what a person had, they could establish a great many things: wealth, upbringing, exposure to aliens, education, sentiments towards the government and other species… it was all very useful in Dom's line of work, but more Tackets area.   
    That was why it was Tackets who took up the argument with the cashier. "We don't just have an adept," he said condescendingly. He figured if he could impress on her the amount of knowledge that _he_ had, being an official of the government on the border, that _she_ completely lacked, not even being educated or rich enough to get into the stations among the outer planets, he could force her into conceding the passports. "We have her family with us."   
    The girls eyes shifted, "That's almost out of the question, its never happened before, and if I give them to you, you may just as well sell them to someone trying to go outer solar system illegally, or worse! They could get to Earth. I'm afraid not."   
    "Lady, who the hell, in their right minds, would _want_ to go to Earth? Hm?"   
    "There are plenty of crazies wanting to go to Earth, we've had six bomb threats today, and over a hundred since you left. That's how many crazies want in on Earth." She shook her head, "Do you have any clear cut proof?"   
    Dom panicked inwardly at the fact that they might not get the passports… but also at the number of bombings that had occurred. Tackets kept up his act and smiled smoothly at Dom, his whole body language screaming that the girl knew nothing. Apparently her request for proof was progress.   
    "You've seen us before, when we left. And you've seen me plenty of times. My office as a recruiter of the Department of Exploration and Energy Extraction should be enough proof. We wouldn't be the type to sell these things for money, we have a job to do, and you're hampering it." He flashed his ID chip in front of the scanner and his bio came up with his DNA match. "Now, why don't you stop wasting our time, and give us those passports. Do your planet a service."   
    She glanced at them both nervously, "Well… it is confirmed that you're the very same Tackets and Sawyer… so, I'll have to make a record of it." She looked into Tackets eyes for approval and he nodded, "It will take a while to get some authority though.   
    Tackets sighed as if he was annoyed for the delay, which was most likely part of his act considering what a patient man he really was. "Yes, yes, fine. Just hurry up, will you?"   
    They motioned to sit in the waiting area when Dom asked if he could go off to pick some things up. Tackets glared at him, feeling like a parent about to let a child run rampid in a large unknown place because it was new to him. With a nod Tackets was left to wait, and Dom headed off to run some errands.   
    The first thing he needed to do was to pick up a holo-news. Ever since he had come to the future, it had been harder for him to accept the bombings like the people born and raised with their knowledge. It was like being born during war time: if war was all you knew then you looked at it as a fact of life, but for Dom it was a much bigger deal.   
    It was hard to say which side he really agreed with, he couldn't tell that well, but being a rather scientific and moral person the facts pointed to disagreeing with the bombings. The bombings had started at least seventy years ago by some (madman?) scientist Mitchell Copenhag'ner. Dom was the kind of person to argue that he was not insane. His ideals, later called Copenism were that a bomb should be dropped over a carefully chosen specified area that would kill off more people then it would destroy resources in the long run.   
    When population rose, and before there was compressed space travel these ideals were what he thought was the only solution to keeping a restrain on the population. Families were already not allowed to have more than one child by law but nothing seemed to help the state of economy. Many people, like Dom, and of course the people who follow Copenism, called Copenists, thought that he never meant for his ideals to be taken that way.   
    As a result, what Copenhag'ner wanted to prevent, happened. After space compression was discovered things would have undoubtedly gotten better, unfortunately, Copenhag'ner's ideals were used past the time that they were meant for, and past the reasoning. Half of the reason why Earth was so diseased was because of all of the biological weapons that "Copenists" had used to kill off the population. Much of Earth was quarantined for that reason. Luckily none of the nuclear bombs ever made it to Earth and Earth's defenses against the bombs were very well established by then.   
    Another reason that it was hard for ships to make it to Earth was because there had been a fair share of suicide bombers that had reached Earth as well. To prevent this, ships were thoroughly inspected and cleared after very harsh regulations. No one on Earth could truly feel safe anymore… it really was a shame how dangerous and unpleasant Earth had become.   
    Dom sighed and rubbed his forehead as he read the reports. He had a fascination- no; it was deeper than that- a compassion for what Earthlings went through, being one of them. Six bombings in one day was a lot, he sighed and shook his head while reading on.   
    After he had finished reading and pondering about the internal lessons he could learn (although he had done that so many times about the bombings that it seemed tired), he realized that he could probably drag a couple of conversations that could definitely be interesting from the new points of views he had acquired. He especially looked forward to talking with Kaoru, and also Kenshin, who interested him to no end.   
    _He seems very wise for his age… and I have yet to think over everything that he said to me on the ship. I'm sure that he would have a very interesting point of view, and I'm sure I'd like to hear it._ He paused in thought, _Tackets is going to be pissy about this, I just know it. He always argues with me about bringing up the bombings and where I stand on them. He also told me that I'm not really supposed to get very attached to other adepts… Oh, bull. I'm not, really, and besides, I've been here long enough to know that that's only so that when people die you continue to function well._ Dom's eyes unfocused, and he stopped his pacing with his reading as memories from his conversation with Kenshin flooded his head.   
  


_"Average life expectancy?"   
"Three years, around. Two and a half to three."_

  
  
    _Hm… so basically, I'm living on borrowed time._ He slowly went back to pacing and decided to look at the section on the border war. _If Roxy were here she'd probably say, "Oh, Dom, stop being so morbid!_ and slap me on the back. A ghost of a smile flashed across Dom's features. _So, lessee…_   
    He skimmed through most of the articles until he found the usually small section on the border war. This time, however, it was not as small as usual; it was brimming with articles about the apparent "new attack" on a border colony called Thitstel. It was, as Dom remembered it (though Dom didn't have a great memory…), a very small, new colony that was branching out past the new border. It was the farthest colony out there, and had been assigned adept protection… _if_ he remembered correctly.   
    Then again, he couldn't, for the life of him, remember _who_ had been assigned, although it was bugging him immensely. So much so, that before they left for compressed space, he decided he would check his mail for reports sent while he was gone. Once he was back in real space, in the current time, his ship should have received most of the mail while he was gone.   
    His brow furrowed and his smooth pacing wavered as he came across the _lovely_ information that the entire colony was completely destroyed, and the remains unsalvageable. He swallowed a lump in his throat and read on. The destruction had happened six days ago, and so what he was reading was the first bits of information coming from the border. The death toll was still basically unknown, although since the colony wasn't ready to be colonized civilians wouldn't be a bulky number, but how many technicians, scientists, officials of the government, soldiers and adepts were killed was important information that no one had.   
    _No one…_ Dom considered, _not the media, but the LEA Council will know, and they will inform me._   
    Now he was more eager to get back the ship and he stopped reading. He discarded the holo-news into a recycle bin to have its memory wiped and reused for different news, one of the many ways Earth and its surrounding bodies had learned to recycle resources.   
    Dom all but ran to the nearest communications booth to buy translators, but the booth wouldn't accept his fingerprint account. He argued loudly with the small man because he had no real reason for not accepting his fingerprint but in the end he got so anxious for news he just used the money he had on him and could only buy two. Dom scowled at the man, threw his money down… and ran towards Tackets so that he could rush that annoying woman holding him up and go to the ship.   
  
    Before Dominic could start bouncing up and down childish impatience asking "Can we go yet? Can we go yet? Can we-", Tackets stopped him with a venomous look of general unfriendliness. It was in Tackets nature to distance people like that, and in all ways. The desire, Dom had figured out, stemmed from the fact that Tackets was afraid of loosing his loved ones, which was impossible with no loved ones to loose. The fact that Dom had figured this out did not help their relationship. Tackets only worked harder to distance himself and be as mean and authoritative as possible. Dom saw no real point to Tackets antics, and did not appreciate Tackets apparent laziness, or harsh treatment, and even though he knew the reasons, he didn't understand _why_ Tackets would do such a thing. The logic made sense, but that wasn't how he thought of the world and so, he couldn't be understanding.   
    They were constantly fighting about the ideals of life, the way that the mission should be carried out, how to associate with new adepts, etc. Even though it was masked as laziness, Tackets hadn't bothered to learn Japanese because he had become so used to distancing himself that without noticing, he didn't even want to risk being able to talk to new adepts anymore. He already knew one or two tribe languages or Africa pretty well, Spanish, Italian, Latin, German, Indian, Russian, and various other alien languages. He had had the job of recruiting for almost as long as Dom had been an adept, and he had gotten tired of watching the new recruits that he had helped bring in die like flies. Not only that, many of them were his friends. That was why there were arguments burning in his eyes, and a promise to voice them later, when he saw the new translators that Dom had brought.   
    Dom calmed himself before speaking, knowing that Tackets was in an apparently horrible mood. "So?"   
    "So have a cliber," Tackets tossed the wrapped sandwich at Dom, who caught it will little grace and much confusion. They ripped open the packets and took respective bites.   
    "I take it this means we're going to be here a while?" Dom brandished his cliber.   
    "You guessed it."   
    "Ugh!" Dom slouched back into his chair in disgust, "I wanted to check my mail!"   
    "For what? News from your girlfriend?"   
    Tackets received the sharpest look that he had gotten in all of their time together, all of their fights. Dom looked like a large eagle the way he snaked his head around and narrowed his eyes, a large, _hungry_, and _angry_ eagle.   
    "Ah," Tackets didn't let on how that look had put him in his place, "well then, it must have been about your stupid obsession with Earths problems."   
    "It's your home too, you know," Dom muttered angrily, but he was becoming more relaxed and noticed the change in subject, an obvious ply to turn the tables back to normalcy (a.k.a. arguing).   
    "Nope, the place can burn to the ground, I wouldn't care a bit- they asked for it."   
    Dom was disgusted once again by his smug coldness, "If you don't give a damn about people's lives then why the are you doing this job?!" He stood angrily, "For your information, and maybe you'll actually care because it isn't Earthlings, a whole colony went up while we were gone, and there were adepts protecting it, and they're dead, satisfied?" He knew directly afterward that what he said was wrong, and that his nerves about the subject had gotten to him and made him drop his politeness to the point of cruelty. Tackets had also pissed him off with that girlfriend comment and pretty much everything that came out of his mouth as well, but still, he felt instantly guilty.   
    "No, I'm not," came his laconic and flat answer. He stood with a frown and brushed by Dominic towards the desk. Dom started rubbing his head and watched Tackets through one eye. Tackets went up to the lady, and slammed his hand down on the desk hard enough so that the sound carried in a radius of people that turned to see the matter. "Woman, come here." The startled clerk complied slowly. "Do you know about the colony accident?"   
    "Uhuh," she nodded.   
    "I have friends that might have died up there that are very important to this war. I am needed there, as are the adepts I have with me. Now, you either get me my passports, _now_, or the Enders can have their run of space, and before you'll know it protocol won't matter because we'll all be dead." _That's more extreme than the truth- I hope -but she did buy it._   
    The lady's eyes had widened in fear, and then panic, at his words and she stammered over an apology, and then briskly promised to have the passports to them within ten minutes. Tackets glared at her for good measure and gave her his approval, and did not stop looking angry and start looking satisfied until he sat back down in his original seat. "Satisfied?" he countered Dom with a sharp edge.   
    Dom nodded, "Quite." His smile reappeared on his face as he prepared to apologize, "I… I am-"   
    "Don't apologize."   
    Dom blinked, and then his pride bubbled to the service, "Huh? What? I- I wasn't going to! You are so full of it, I can't believe you have 'friends' to speak of with your attitude!" Dom had a lighter edge to his voice, so as not to offend, and threw up his hands in mock exasperation.   
    "I don't."   
    Dom had sat in a huff and slumped back into his chair, with his eyes closed, but they snapped open at the other's bland reply. "You don't? … Why?"   
    Tackets stared blankly ahead, "They're all dead."   
    Dom swallowed hard and tried to inquire more, but stopped when he realized that he would only be trying to fulfill his curiosity, but in turn, Tackets would really rather not speak of it. Wisely he closed his mouth and allowed Tackets the distance that he wanted.   
    There was a long pause between them…   
    "I'm not sorry, you know."   
    "Sure your not," came Tackets' sarcastic reply.   
    "I'm not!"   
    The two began to argue once more.   
  
  
  
    Sooooooo… its been a while, but here ya go, bran, spankin' new chapter! I probably will not drop this fic, and since I got everything from threats to string my organs out amongst the Texas sun :looks suspiciously at JadeAnime:, not that I'm naming names…, to ploys to get me to just send chapters to one person, I think that even if its only me reading my chapters… (even though Val wouldn't stop reading, _right Val?_ :dangerous look:) I won't quit ^.^.   
  
    Val: no, I'm not going to make Tacket's Roxanne's father, but there!, you get character development, happy?   
  
    JadeAnime: So I get to keep my organs? :hopeful look: and I AM reading ur fic!! I AM!! I just am unable to review -.-o. I didn't email… bc I'm a lazy bum, oh! And I rewatched Eva- ur right, Eva could just step on the gundams, they're pretty small in comparison.   
  
  
    **Notes:**   
-Think of Dom and Tackets as the epitome of opposites   
-Is anyone curious about this "Roxanne" creature?   
-If you have the time, and you like either GundamW or Fantasy, read my fic Dragon Wars. It's long, but I promise its worth your time ^.^   
- I drew a picture of space around Earth, not including the moon. It will be on a reachable website as soon as angelfire decides to work.   
-Do you like the footnote-like things? I use them in Dragon Wars… people seem to like them.   
  
    I don't expect too many reviews bc ff.net is so freaked up, but if you read and you CAN review, please do. 


	10. Introctions, chaos, sci-fi, and mush. (a...

  
  
    **Disclaimer:** zen zen arimasen. L (Trans: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, it belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and other people, but not me.) (Too many hours of Kodacha under the belt by the time I wrote the last portion, and this)   
    Warnings:   
    Based solely on anime   
    *English* ____ Third and first person mix_____ _thoughts_   
    "zen zen arimasen" DOES NOT mean what I say it does.   
    This is my "webpage format" :P   
  
    Chapter 6: Introductions, chaos, sci-fi and mush, and more mush   
  
    _Food… food… food… food…_ I thought as I searched through most of the ship looking for where Dom kept all the food that he fed us. When he had given us a tour of the ship, Dom had explained that the food was kept in something called a f'riju… unfortunately… I had gotten lost.   
    Hey! It's a pretty big ship!   
    Really…   
    I made a right turn and came to that room that Dom told us never to go into… it was some sort of energy gathering chamber or whatnot… didn't matter, if it didn't have food, it didn't matter. Well… maybe I could just take a peek inside. I don't know why I do half of the things I do but in any case, they get done. No wonder I'm always lost or in trouble if I follow _that_ sort of logic. I sighed to myself.   
    Besides, if I made some sort of discovery about something Dom hadn't told us then I would have an excuse as to why I was wandering around the ship and no one will think that I got lost!   
    I bent my tall body over so that I could see into the small, thick paned window. Inside there was only another room, kinda like the dojo's bathhouse. There were two suites hung up on the walls. That didn't really give me anything to go on at all. The information Dom gave us all was vague at best, which only made me that much more curious.   
    My hand was _just_ about to reach the handle to see if I might be able to open the door when I heard a slight cough behind me. With a cringe at the cold feeling that went down my back and made my hair stand on end, I froze and realized that the person who had caught me was glaring intently enough at my back for me to feel it. That meant I was doing something wrong, of course, maybe I could bluff my way out of it, or maybe the person liked me enough to let me go…   
    I turned around and all hope was lost at the slightly malicious grin donned on Tackets face. "*I wouldn't do that if I were you, unless you want to say goodbye to your skin. If you were lucky you might just have been thrown back, broken something and the ship would become toxic and we would all die. Then again, you have no idea what I'm saying, do you?*" Tackets paused in his speech that I couldn't understand a word of.   
    I had whipped my body around now, and I faced him with a shit-eating smile on my face, my hands "harmlessly" clasped behind my back.   
    Tackets' response to this was to plaster an equally (albeit more sarcastic) shit-eating grin on his face, "*Let me put this in universal terms,*" his grin made him speak through clenched teeth, making him sound even more cynical. He waved his hands in a panicked way and pointed at the door frantically to get my full attention. He proceeded to mime me a pretty clear warning by 1) opening the door motion, 2) taking deep breathes, 3) grasping his neck, making choking noises, and "dying" at my feet. He then stood up calmly and raised an eyebrow. After I wiped the tears from my eyes that had formed as I laughed my head off at his idiot tactics, I nodded to indicate I understood and stifled another laugh. _Yes, I know, very mature Sano, but I couldn't help it._   
    "*Now,*" Tackets seemed to find some pleasure in talking to me in his language with the full knowledge that I had no idea what he was saying, "*you're either lost, hungry, or bored, but I bet you're all three, so I guess I have the responsibility to stop you from killing us all by entertaining you.   
    We got some grub from the f'riju and headed back into the main room. Kitsune actually looked as if she had been waiting for my return. I was inwardly happy at that but I only gave her the same smile I gave everyone when I show up places I'm not supposed to be. She only ignored me, which I had no problem with at all. Tackets seemed intent on doing something with me, and as much as I didn't really like the guy, he was still more interesting than having another argument with Kitsune. Being trapped on a small ship with the same people for two days really starts to grate on your nerves, especially since those two future-people-freaks had left us alone to amuse ourselves.   
    Tackets and I sat down at the round table in the main room and he tossed me one of those translator things to put in my ear that he must have got from Dom. I really didn't want to put some weird foreign object into my ear, but Tackets stared at me in that really annoying way after gesturing I follow his example. "Cut it out!" I yelled at him, I really didn't want to be forced to do something just because this idiot decided he would stare at me until I caved in.   
    He only stared back.   
    "I ain't puttin' this thing in my ear, no way am-" I started as he pressed a button on the wall panel and part of the table slid out on the open side. There were chips there… on my side… little pyramid-looking gambling chips.   
    Slowly I lifted the translator up to my ear so that I could know what the hell I was looking at.   
  
    I had the distinct urge to grab Tackets hand and hurry him by skipping down the hallway towards the lift to the ship. Roxanne must have been rubbing off on me more that I thought. Then again, she'd be willing to skip around in public and pull someone along for cookies… I was tempted because it was a life or death situation… well, more likely just a death situation.   
    It was a very strange feeling, and not one completely unfamiliar either: to be eager to hear something that you don't want to hear. I knew that someone that I probably knew was dead Being one of the oldest adepts had that strength, or conversely, drawback. One knows pretty much everyone that came before him or her and is still alive, and needs to help train those that come after, so I knew practically everyone.   
    Once Tackets and I were inside the ship we split off without another word. Tackets went who-knows-where, and I went directly to the consol to look through my mail. I shirked off my duties to implant the new passports and clearance tickets, figuring that if Tackets had half a brain, he would do it. Its not like he had anything important to do anyway.   
    Most of my mail was junk mail, some of it was mail from friends wondering how my mission went, and a lot of it was job offers or propositions also mostly considered junk mail by me. I got a lot of job offerings for my services and abilities. I had, I was painfully aware of, quite a reputation since I started singing at the UnDeRcLuB. However, it didn't matter how much some people were willing to pay me, I was _not_ going to sing for a kid's birthday party, and I did _not_ want a record deal. My first and foremost job in everything that I did was my duty to the war, and to my race. All else came after that.   
    I knew, deep in my mind that besides the urgency I had to read the mail from the LEA council… I also… more desperately than I had thought, wanted to see mail from Roxy, but there was none.   
    _There_. I did find the mail that I was looking for, two pieces, almost right next to each other, and dated about six days ago. I opened the first one and sped read through most of the parts that I knew, or had guessed, and shamelessly I also skipped through most of the damage reports, casualties, budget impinges… to the section where there were adept casualties.   
    I could have sworn that my heart stopped.   
    Nothing hit me more than the disbelief, really. It couldn't be Varn; Varn was always around. He just… he was. I wasn't believing my eyes to the point where I became slightly confused; it couldn't be Varn, the whole concept was just passing over my head. I knew that I was staring blankly at the screen and tried detachedly to snap out of it, but in a way, the numb state of my mind was more pleasant than a reality without Varn.   
    Varn was, to say the least, one of my closest friends. To say the most, the man was like a father to me. That could be a slight exaggeration there, he was like a father to me _sometimes_. He was a mentor, he taught me everything from my first day in the future, there weren't many adepts back then and so the older adepts taught the newer ones. Varn went on countless dangerous missions, trained a dozen other adepts, faced off with Enders, and always, always came back. In a world that was always turning upside down and inside out without notice, where the person that you meet one day became the corpse you buried the next and nothing was sure, Varn was the one consistency in my life. Unlike Roxanne he could be relied on for outside advice, he was wise, and kind, but not very lenient and always very dedicated.   
    I could say, without a doubt, that Varn and I had had something special. I wasn't just another trainee to him, I was a person that he could call friend, and I was another one that always came back. After being five and a half years an adept Varn would have been ready to give up on friends altogether like Tackets had- if it weren't for Roxanne and I. Since we were always there, and we watched our friends die together, we knew that we could count on each other if nothing or no one else.   
    My heart was still in turmoil, and my mind was still numb… but all I could do was stare right at the message, and think about what I would never have again. Varn would never be there to have a pleasant drink with me after a hard day of work, he would never again ask for my advice when I knew very well he didn't need it, I would never ever again feel his comfortable arm around mine when we were talking about girls and relationships, and all the troubles that came with them, and he would never give me that unique lopsided smile he had ever again.   
    In the past year we had become so close that he even invited me to his apartment every Friday night for Dorlasion cookies, something that he said he had always enjoyed doing alone, but that we were together so much that he didn't even notice I was there most of the time. _He told me I was like an extra limb._   
    "Hey, where are those translators?" Tackets tapped me on the shoulder, unknowing of my emotional state. I guessed that was because I wasn't really showing it in any way, except maybe looking dumbfounded. Distractedly I pointed to where I had left them and said something with an uncanny normal sounding voice.   
    Tackets disappeared out of my line of concern. I didn't care; I didn't care about anything. My numbness had not faded at all. I needed to do something to keep me occupied, at the very least to keep my mind occupied, what had I been doing? I looked up, _checking mail…_ My hand moved to the consol and continued to sift through mail, looking for something important, something that I needed to act on or do. There were no urgent letters from Roxy or missions that I just _had_ to take. The closest I came to urgency was that the LEA council had sent me a blue letter- a letter of request.   
    I opened it obediently in my quest for something to do and tried to focus my eyes on it. They refused to at first, and then after more concentration than I thought was possible given the circumstances I began to read at an alarming rate. I read through the whole message in a couple of seconds… and I hadn't absorbed a word of it. I couldn't even remember what its main point was, I had read it but it didn't stick in my mind. Slowly, I read it over again, my mind absorbed some of what I saw and I sat there staring blankly for a few seconds trying to connect words and ideas.   
    Once again there was that annoying feeling of being thrown into ice water without warning. My eyes widened uncontrollably and if I hadn't been sitting I would have fallen over. Hurriedly I reread the message more carefully and actually understood it. I had to fight off teetering waves of nausea and fear. I was disgusted with nausea because Varn had only been dead six days… and I was afraid because the message made me realize I was now the oldest living, longest running, adept. I'd lived as an adept only four and a half years… I was only twenty-one… and yet, I was the new _Connoisseur_. It was so… wrong. So very wrong!! So unfair! He's dead!!! Dead and they want me to replace him!? They want me to- to just replace Varn like he's replaceable? Like he's expendable? Just another casualty? Numbers were so cold at a time like this… 80,000, 100,000, 150,000- all I could really think about was the number 1. One person that meant so much to me, one person that I had respected. So many other adepts died so very often and I never really had to think about whom I expected to live, I never needed to worry about my friends' safety. 150,000 seemed like such an overwhelming, depressing number when I thought of it one Varn's worth at a time.   
    Now my throat finally constricted and I let out a shaky breath. I guessed it wasn't so bad to express one's feelings sometimes. I felt like crying, my eyes stung a little but didn't well up. No, crying just wasn't my way. I did breathe a bit harder, and looked around anxiously to see if I was being watched like a paranoid person. Yahiko was with Kenshin watching Tackets and Sanosuke do something, and Kaoru-   
    -apparently Kaoru was directly to the left of me.   
    "Dom-kun… daijoubu? Do you- want to talk about it?"   
    I blinked widely at her for a second. She had just picked up on my reaction and comforted me like… like she had known me for years… The feeling I was getting should have been along the lines of unnerving, but somehow, her kind treatment of me made me more willing to bear my soul to her. Well, not that willing, but more willing than with most people.   
    "I… my friend died almost a week ago. I just found out." My response was not as calm as I had expected it to be. How is it that when I was talking to Tackets my voice sounded fine but now I sounded like a lost child?   
    Her eyes softened, "I'm sorry to hear that." She opened her hand to reveal two translator earpieces. _She expects me to talk more? She… cares to listen to… more of my incessant, sissy, mindless, childlike babble about someone she doesn't even know? And she even prepared for it! She could read me enough to have the foresight and get the translators. Amazing woman…_ I was temporarily speechless but managed to get the earpiece in his ear.   
    After a pause I realized I was supposed to speak first, "Varn is dead. He was like a father to me in many ways, and now they- the Life Energy Administration Council- want me to take his job as the Connoisseur."   
    "What is that?"   
    "It's the position of the highest ranking, most experienced adept. Technically I'm now the longest running adept…" my throat constricted again and I looked down as I trailed off, "four and a half years…"   
    "You knew him for that long?" She sounded mournful… empathetic to me. I had expected her to brush it off, four and a half years wasn't that long compared to an actual father or a real family member. No big deal. Not so bad. Really, wasn't that how I was supposed to feel? No! How stupid of me, I was just being stupid.   
    "Its… not that long…"   
    "No!" I was taken aback by her response, "A friend is a friend, death is death. If you say he was like a father to you, the amount of time you knew him doesn't matter. I mean, look at my family, I have known them for barely a year, but their still the closest thing I have to a family and if any one of them died I would-" her rapid and free expression of emotions almost scared me, she looked as if she could cry at the thought, or cry for my sadness, I couldn't tell but I was sure I had the stupidest, most dumbfounded look on my face, "I would be devastated," she finished heartfeltly.   
    I suddenly realized I _was_ devastated. I know it was stupid of me to realize then, but although I didn't show it, that was the word to describe it: devastated. I blinked at her concerned face again, and this time with more realization. I couldn't just numb away the feelings, what good would that do? That was unproductive devastation. If I wanted to function immediately then it worked, but long term it was better for me to deal with my devastation by allowing myself to feel.   
    All the emotions I had blocked were let loose from where I had shoved them, and like a floodgate being opened, they all poured to sit heavily in my chest like lead. The weight caused my chest to clench so sickeningly tight that I doubled over in my chair grasping at my loose shirt at my chest. I breathed as though I might have been crying, but no sound escaped my mouth, and no tears escaped my eyes. I felt Kaoru put her arms on my shoulders and say something comforting.   
  
    Kenshin looked at Tackets, and then at Sano and back. Gambling didn't interest him, and especially since it really made Kaoru very pissed off at him. Sano enjoyed it, Yahiko wanted to watch, and Kenshin just wanted to observe how the game worked. It wasn't as simple as dice were, as an understatement. This game had three layers to it. The table had opened up and three glass panes had risen out of it. Lights were displayed on the table to make checkered layers to the game. Not only could you take different moves than in checkers by moving up and down in the game, you could also jump over different pieces but only depending on the piece. There was a whole hierarchy of pieces that made Kenshin's head want to spin. He was lost after the first five types. Considering there were sixteen he had given up.   
    Sano was at the advantage of actually understanding the game more because he had a translator and so he could understand what Tackets was saying. Yahiko was watching for the hell of it, and he enjoyed doing so, but Kenshin found his eyes glazing over.   
    From what he could hear, not too far away behind him was Kaoru. He would have wandered over to get a moment with her but she was currently talking soothingly to Dom, who must have been upset, and Kenshin left them alone to their private conversation.   
    "YATA!" Sano yelled as another piece fell from its three-foot-doom to land dejectedly in his collection bag. In the game, whenever you got a piece it counted as money at the end of the game. Whatever the looser had retrieved from you was deducted from your total.   
    _And boy am I kicking so much ass,_ Sano thought with a smile. Tackets glared at him not so good-naturedly. "Why the long face, old man? Did you swallow something sour… like maybe your foot?"   
    "Did you just call my foot sour?"   
    "What?"   
    "You just called my foot sour, did you not?" Tackets said belligerently.   
    "I guess I did," Sano answered with equal cockiness.   
    "You wanna start something with a sour footed man?"   
    Somehow, Kenshin saw where this was going, "Maa maa…"   
    Tackets whipped his head around to Kenshin and grimaced… he seemed to be holding back something and grimaced harder, but as he saw the worried look on Kenshin's face, the grimace turned into a repressed grin. Suddenly, the whole charade broke down and he started laughing breathily. "You guys are all right…"   
    The three male members of Kenshin-gumi looked around confused.   
    "Everyone gets tired of being alone," Tackets responded with a cocky glance. "I see no harm in warming up to you guys for just this once. Besides, I'll never see you again anyway, ne?" He said all of that in English, and Kenshin and Yahiko just stared blankly at him.   
    "Oi, this is no time to get mushy! I want to finish this game."   
  


______________________@.@________________________

  
  
    Hugs…   
    Hugs were Dom's official new favorite thing in the world. As he lay down in his bed opposite from Tackets', and was aware of the night of snoring and inconsiderate criticism he was about to endure, but most of all, as thoughts he could not let go of Varn filled his mind, Dom was sharply aware that he really was missing the comfort, protection and care than a hug offered. When Kaoru had hugged him earlier that day he had felt sheltered from the world's problems, demands and all the stress that fell upon him the second he realized he was being asked to take Varn's place.   
    Dom sighed and stared at the dark metallic ceiling with one are behind his head. _I have to remember that Kaoru is not the solution to all my problems. She can't heal my grief, she can take away my job, and she can't … help me with Roxanne either. I can't hide in her arms forever, and God knows I can't, and wouldn't._   
    "What was that sigh? I know that sigh, it was a woman-sigh." Tackets sat his heavy body up on his bed and turned his head in the dark towards his opponent.   
    "Woman sigh? That was _not_ a 'woman-sigh'. I was thinking about my new duties as a connoisseur." Dominic gave him an annoyed look that neither of them could see.   
    "That girl-"   
    Dom sprang up from his rest, "Who? Kaoru- you're out of your mind! I'm mourning, okay? Our time together was not some plot to get her into my bed, or even near it. I was in pain-"   
    "-And she soothed it. When are you going to realize that you never know you've fallen until you've fallen? You're going to end up liking her, getting closer to her, spending time with her. Soon you won't even remember what's-her-face." Tackets was referencing Roxanne, and they both knew it. Even though Tackets could care less about Dom's personal life most of the time and never asked, he still knew that those far away looks, and the forlorn sighs, and the glazed eyes belonged to some woman back on Inok.   
    "I will _not_." Dom crossed his arms. _How dare he underestimate my feelings for- oh my gosh what am I thinking? I'm the one that dumped her. Ack! What am I thinking?! Is that all I think of it as when it comes down to it, did I just 'dump' her?_ He shook himself out of his inner dialogue and continued his thoughts in his argument. "Well, if there's one think I do know about what you suggest, that's that that girl and the red haired fem-boy are together. I would never try to break apart a relationship just for someone I barely know and some comfort. I'm not that easy."   
    "I'm saying this for your benefit," Tackets continued in earnest, "Don't get too close to these people, they will suck you in and you'll regret it. Either they'll die, or you'll fall in love with that girl, or you'll ruin your relationship with what's-'er-face. Just drive the ship, get us back, and take your rightful place. Smooth things over with that girl-"   
    "-Roxanne," Dom managed through clenched teeth.   
    "-and forget about this one."   
    Dom restrained himself from yelling but his voice did rise. "It's really funny that you would be saying this to me after you became so chummy with the rest of them, especially the tall one. You, winner of the cold-hearted-bastard-award of the year, actually accepted someone into your personal ice bubble today- and don't think I didn't notice -and now, of all times you want me to stay away from these people. You're afraid I'll lose my self control, that I'm too much of a flake, a skirt-chaser…" He became frustrated with a loss of words, "Well, well there's no way I'm going to turn into you just because you're afraid of opening up, icey-man!"   
    "First of all I'd like to point out how mature that was of you, and second I'd like to point out one other thing: maybe you don't change tides that easily, but in case in your experience from today with that girl- you're vulnerable."   
    Sawyer froze. His mind raced over the idea several times, at several different angles as to whether or not he was really being as vulnerable as Tackets said he was. It was true, he was vulnerable, and it had made his attachment to Kaoru very strong since first meeting, and he couldn't let that happen- but all that came out his mouth was one of the many questions that had passed through his head, this one escaping through the hole there called his mouth. "You think she's trying to take _advantage_ of me??" Both blinked.   
    "That's not what I said-"   
    "You aren't answering the question-"   
    "No you dolt!"   
    There was a pause, and then they began to argue again. "How is it that after all these years you can become friends with some random Japanese person overnight while gambling, but you still treat me like crap?"   
    "I called you a dolt because you're an idiot, not because I dislike you!"   
    "So you don't dislike me-"   
    "No, I despise you."   
    Dom flipped over and pulled the covers over himself before he hit the pillow, "I'm tired, I think I've had enough childish bickering for tonight."   
    "Yea, the only way you can escape from your own idiocy would be sleep, wouldn't it?" Tackets made motions to go to sleep as well. Both settled down for a couple of minutes when there came a noise, "Sawyer?"   
    "What?" Sawyer said with grumpy sleepiness.   
    "Are you going to accept the role and become connoisseur?"   
    "You are _aiming_ to ruin my good night's sleep, aren't you? Yes, I probably will accept, but I will consider it. It's not something I would immediately sign in to do."   
    "God save our race…" Tackets mumbled sincerely.   
    "Oh, shut up."   
  
  
  
Notes -.-/:   
    -If you're still reading this (fic), thank you ^.^   
    -**Important:** I need definite feedback on whether or not my focus on the Other Characters (OCs) are annoying. I must know now how much to include about their problems. Be honest. Originally, they were supposed to be introduced like all the other characters were- ppl who were important to the plot and became main characters: ex. Misao. But if you guys can't stand it or just skip over it, please tell me- I'll make my own judgment from there.   
    -I have recently came to the revelation that my writing will no longer have anything to do with how many reviews I receive. Hopefully, I will keep writing ^.^. Fanfiction.net is too focused on reviews, I'm glad they don't show how many you have with the fic anymore. Reveiws are usually nice, and helpful, they also let me know you're still alive out there, but I will never stop writing just because I'm not getting many reviews ever again. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have written this chapter ^.^   
    -I have come to the decision that I ramble too much, but my reason for this taking so long is that I went to Otakon. This entails much. And- it was fun. :P (yes I know I like in NY- mad Maryland connection skilz)   
    -read MT: www.megatokyo.com Fred just made a lot of money at otakon, he should get more readers to go with his new server ^.- (big fans know what I mean) Ack! Rambled too much!   
  
  



	11. Finally, something INTERESTING happens!

  
    **Disclaimer**: zen zen arimasen. (Trans: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, it belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and other people, but not me.) (Too many hours of Kodacha under the belt by the time I wrote the last portion, and this)   
    Warnings:   
    Based solely on anime   
    *English* ____ Third and first person mix_____ _thoughts_   
    "zen zen arimasen" DOES NOT mean what I say it does.   
    This is my "webpage format" :P   
    Instead of having vocabulary at the beginning of the chapter, translations are right next to the Japanese words.   
  
    Chapter 7: Finally, Something INTERESTING Happens!   
  
    Dom-kun had been awkward throughout the whole lesson. I was learning, but let me tell you, it wasn't because of his great teaching skills, and I say this as a shihondai. He wasn't fully concentrating on what he was doing, and he avoided me while teaching me at the same time, which doesn't work. How he attempted to accomplish this is difficult to explain because it seems impossible, but he managed it.   
    He would talk to me, but look past me. He would show me how to press certain buttons, which required guiding my hands, but he acted like my hands were made of boiling hot poison tipped spikes. It was not flattering. I was afraid he was going to pass out when he was showing me that I needed to press certain buttons in a certain order at a certain speed, and needed to place his hand over mine.   
    My conclusion was that he was either in love with me, or he hated me.   
    In my mind both were extremely possible. I was beautiful, competent, wonderful in everyway, and strong willed; so why wouldn't he be in love with me? On the other hand I wasn't nearly as pretty as I could be, foreign, and I hit him over the head with a pot once. I was boyish, quick to anger, and I might have invaded his privacy yesterday when I had comforted him over the loss of his friend.   
    I didn't spend too much time thinking about these things, I was concentrating on learning what he was teaching me, or rather Yahiko, which meant I had to work harder to absorb anything. Yahiko was a boy of ten, stuck on a ship with six adults, three of which he did not get along with, and no room or resources to do anything. I had a feeling things would soon go down hill rapidly in the boredom department. Megumi was studying, but there's only so much of that that you can do without going insane or stopping, Sano and Taketsu-san spent the whole time gambling, which I frowned upon and would take no part in, Kenshin and Yahiko would watch a lot of the time, but neither cared. Kenshin didn't even seem to want to try, and Yahiko would never get the chance anyway.   
    So that day, for the past three hours, Yahiko and I were learning things about the ship. Yahiko enjoyed it, but didn't understand it all (even though Dom-kun mostly taught him, for whatever reason he was not directly teaching me as much as possible), and I already knew how I felt.   
    Dom stopped and wiped his forehead, even though it was clear. "I'm very sorry, I'm not doing a good job teaching."   
    _Damn right you aren't, what's wrong with you?!_ Of course I didn't say that, I said, "No! Really! You're doing fine." Something about his smile told me I needed to take acting lessons.   
    I smiled blindly, and watched as he gave each of us a smile, "I've been distracted, I'm sorry."   
    "Well, I guess that's okay, if we need to stop." Yahiko slid off his seat and lowered his volume (he either did that, or got louder when he made a mean comment), "Busu's a better teacher than you anyway, it's too bad there isn't enough room on this ship to practice kenjutsu." He walked off to join the gaming table where Sano's butt had probably melted into the seat so that they had become one by now.   
    Dom-kun just looked at me apologetically said, "Maybe we can continue this tomorrow. Oh, and feel free to tinker around, I didn't teach you anything dangerous, or why don't you teach Kenshin what you know?" I swear he winked at me. Were it not for the wink I wouldn't have been sent into a double panic. Even HE knew about my feelings for Kenshin! Everyone knew! Even Kenshin knew! Wait- it is possible he could be that oblivious. I calmed down and tried to stop blushing, which doesn't work by force of will. He could have just told me that because there were only two sets of translators, and so Kenshin gave up his chance to learn with me for Yahiko (I had to learn because I was becoming an adept). So, maybe he just wanted Kenshin to have a turn.But then, the wink! That meant that he was probably in love with me. I didn't know what was worse, having him know about my feelings for Kenshin in his hate, which was embarrassing, or having him in love with me when I was in love with someone else!   
    By that point in my inner dialogue I had decided that I was overanalyzing everything and just forget the wink, the wink probably didn't happen.   
    …   
    Okay, I wouldn't forget the wink, but I would _temporarily_ forget the wink.   
    So, as long as for another couple of hours the wink never existed, why not take his advice and offer to teach Kenshin what I learned? He must be secretly dying of boredom as well; even though the only time I've seen him show it is that day I left him with Aoshi.   
    I didn't really know how to ask him, or what to say to him, and I was afraid it would come out odd, but those were always just superficially girlish things that I automatically went through. Kenshin is someone I can usually always talk to easily, whether or not I was screaming, beating, or talking, we always communicated pretty well. So as I planned to turn around and have to find him and ask him if he wanted me to teach him anything, or to just order him to come with me and hope that worked, I was pleasantly surprised to find him right there.   
    What I meant was that I turned around, and he was standing not too far behind my chair, leaning against the booth where Sano was sitting, and gazing half-heartedly at the game. As soon as I had turned around his head turned and he smiled at me.   
    Everything seemed right in the world when he gave me that smile, and everything that I had or needed to say formed pretty solidly in my mind. I didn't need to worry about going off nervously to find him, or asking him in front of Sano or Megumi to receive grief. It was like he had read my mind, I turned around, just when I didn't expect him, and he was there for me. It was Kenshin's way. He's the kind of man that just 'appears' when you need him.   
    I smiled back at him and called his name with affection, and just to further deplete my nervousness from earlier, I didn't have to say anything; he just walked towards me.   
    "Would you like me to teach you what I learned today?"   
    I guess it didn't work the same way with him, because he seemed at a loss of which term for 'yes' he should use. He finally came up with, "Aa."   
    So we sat down and I began to teach him what I learned. First I pointed over to the booth. "There are six emergency straps that are at that booth in case the gravity generator gets knocked out. That means that if we can no longer stand upright or the ship has to maneuver that is where we all go to be securely strapped down. The straps are pulled from the bottom of the seat cushion and snapped into the catch above the backs, one for each arm, then the two straps are hooked together, and should keep everyone in place, from Yahiko to Sano. The seats that you and I are sitting in are for Taketsu-san and Dom-kun. According to Dom-kun, Taketsu-san is the pilot, and Dom-kun handles weapons, but both of them know the basics of the ship, and that's what I spent most of the time learning."   
    Kenshin nodded. I had a feeling that he was a bright man, in a way. He was definitely not all brawns and no brains. Besides being so wise though, he had a lot of intelligence to him, and given the opportunity, such as now, he could be a precocious and learned individual.   
    "Okay, so for starters I should show you the parts of the ship. This ship has a wide consol, and so each of our chairs can slide back and forth through our respective halves. You're sitting in the weapons' chair. The right side of the consol has all the controls for firing weapons, and I have all the controls for piloting. We each have our own set of controls for basic functions. There are-"   
    Just as I was about to tell him about the small button on the side of his armrest on both sides of his chair, he discovered them, and like a child with a new toy, he started to slide left and right repeatedly. "KENSHIN!"   
    He looked up and stopped moving around, "Oh… gomen de gozaru."   
    I huffed and tried to remember where I was while Kenshin looked ashamedly at his fidgeting digits. "So… as you have discovered," I said through bare teeth with a meaningful look, "you can move back and forth by using those buttons. In order to use separate consols we'd have to be on opposite sides of the ship, so why don't you just watch me first?"We wouldn't have been more than a dozen feet away, but Kenshin got up and stood behind my chair, which gave me a ticklish feeling, like my skin had suddenly become more sensitive. I shook it out of my mind, I was supposed to be teaching here, just where did I get off getting warm fuzzy feelings in the middle of a lesson? That just wouldn't do. Kenshin and I hung out a lot like friends more than anything else, and I don't ever… feel… I trailed off realizing that I had been ignoring Kenshin.   
    "In order to bring up a map of the ship, inwards or outwards, you press this. From the general ship map, you can specify a map or the interior, or exterior of the ship, as well as specific parts to the ship." The ship's ceiling near the consol was arched because of the smooth bullet shaped front. Kenshin and I were all the way to the left of the ship, and the way that the map came out was that it either slid up from the consol, or slid down from the bent ceiling. Once the ceiling was flat there was another slit for a holodisplay to come down, and they were the right size and distance apart so as not to obstruct the operator's view.   
    I tapped the holodisplay that I had called up from the consol. "This is called a 'ha-lo-di-shplei', which means it displays things as if they were right in front of you out of this small flat picture." In my mind I had not taken to calling it a halodishplei, but instead just used Nihongo (_Japanese_) words to describe it, but the name needed to be recognizable to me because Dom-kun used it frequently. I did the same with the word 'suri-di', which just meant three-dimensional in Nihongo anyway.   
    About that time the exterior of the ship shown up on the holodisplay, and Kenshin commented on what I was thinking, "It shows three dimensions like the one we saw at the dojo de gozaru."   
    I nodded, "It's emulated by advanced sonar. Light gets shot out from this," I indicated an antenna near the front of the ship sticking up from the top; it had two cones in it, one was smaller and narrower, and the other was large, and stretched out so it was almost flat, currently it was rotating and turned down at the ship, "and is caught in the larger cone. It's pointed at the ship because that's what we want to see, and it's rotating to get full view of the ship. There's another one on the bottom, and two more, one next to each one in case you want to see two different things at once."   
    I went on explaining about how you could lock that one into place and bring up the second one to look around you, but there was nothing but stars so I continued to explain other parts of the ship.   
    Almost an hour later, "And these are the engines…" I trailed off and let my attention wander from the display, to space outside, which I could actually see with my own two eyes. Kenshin didn't seem to mind, and joined me at looking at the billions of shooting stars, just within the view of that one window. There were so many that it made the mind boggle that our planet had just been revolving around one of these stars, out of billions of billions, and we were just one race of people out of that many more. I sighed with the weight of it all, and noticed in my peripheral vision that Kenshin had looked down at me.   
    "I'm sorry de gozaru."   
    "It's fine," I had tilted my head up to look back at him.   
    "I guess I just miss looking at nature de gozaru." He was referring to the stars; I could tell because I felt the same way, even if they were shooting around us at a fairly fast rate.   
    "I understand." He was leaning on the back of my chair and I could feel his hand under my shoulder. As little as it was, it was very comforting, so I continued. "I used to think that I appreciated nature quite a lot, even though I'm no tree hugger and I did know I took advantage of it to a certain extent. Now that I'm here, and everything I see except the stars in anything but natural, I realize how much I took it for granted…" I had settled my vision back on the stars, and felt Kenshin smile rather than saw him.   
    It was hard not to see the stars whipping past our ship as we raced on in compressed mode, and once again I was reminded of technology overcoming nature, and I realized that we had strayed off track and got a hyper urge to get us back on it. "Technology is nice too- so back to what we were doing!"   
    I explained as much as I could about the engines, Dom-kun had been careful not to teach too much, he had no intention of letting anyone but Taketsu-san fly the ship yet, and I guessed that the best way he figured he could hold out against mutiny was that ignorant mutineers were safe ones. So I didn't know much yet about the engines, and I knew nothing about the weapons, and after I had explained the parts of the ship, I started to teach Kenshin the functions I had learned.   
    We switched seats, so now I was letting him handle the consol, just like Dom-kun had done for me. I didn't think Dom-kun was a bad teacher, but he wasn't concentrating, and he was acting as a bad teacher at the time. Kenshin was a compliant student, or at least he was for me. He sat there and learned quietly, except for when I talked to him, or when he asked soft questions. _The exact opposite of Yahiko_, I thought angrily. It had been a while since we had gotten the chance to do something together alone (albeit four people were a few people behind us, some of which were cheering loudly), and I enjoyed being able to watch the way that Kenshin was.   
    "So there are three types of scans. I already showed you one of them, the exterior of the ship. The other two scan what's out there," I pointed out the window. "There's short range, and long range. They both scan for things like electricity, heat, radio signals, engine trails ect.." Engine trails are the trails of particles left behind by engines, they can be picked up by light scans, and can tell you what course the ship is on as well as where it has been. The particles fade after a while and the trail disperses. "In order to bring up the scanning you have to hit these five buttons in sequence." I put my hand down there to indicate where they were, and then lifted it up for Kenshin to put his hand there. Then, as Dom-kun had had to do for me, I put my hand over his and led his fingers in the right sequence without pressing on them. "Do you get that?"   
    He nodded and I kept my hand there to show it to him again, only faster. Rarely did Kenshin need to ask questions, because I usually answered most of them before he could, but he asked, "Why is it like that de gozaru ka?"   
    I tried to get some sort of feeling from him before I did so, but somehow felt a sense of confidence from him and got the courage to leave my hand over his while I explained. "Once this action is carried out large scanning dishes cover the ship, in a battle or a crisis this would cripple the ship's other functions, so it's made so that it's hard to open by accident." He nodded once and I continued to help him practice on opening the dishes before I took my hand back and let him do it on his own.   
    He succeeded and I showed him how to change the level to short-range scan. "A short range scan searches the area around the ship of about seven kilometers in all directions. It searches for all the qualities I told you-"   
    I stopped when Kenshin gave me a very cute, confused look and listed them off on my fingers, "Electricity, heat, radio signals, engine trails ect… Well, on low power it searches for all these things within this range of seven kilometers, no further. On high power, which takes more energy from the power cells, the scan searches that area, plus another seven kilometers less specifically. For example, a meteor not visible by the naked eye could be mistaken for a drifting ship, because there is no search for radio signals or electricity. Only the heat from the engines is picked up."   
    "So," Kenshin looked up into my eyes and drew a bright conclusion, "if a ship wanted to hide from short range, high power scans, all they would have to do is let their engines cool and drift de gozaru ka?"   
    I smiled and nodded at him, trying not to show how impressed I was by his conclusion, because right then I was acting as a teacher. "Yes, in fact, Dom-kun told me that the most common scan was the short range high power. Low power is used in docking mostly, and long range is only used if you see or find something interesting. Here: I'll show you how to do short range scan."   
    I was feeling more relaxed around Kenshin physically than ever before. Maybe it was because Kenshin was a comforting figure in the midst of all the new chaos I had been thrown into, or the fact that his presence was always comforting and now more so because I was acting as his teacher, and so it made it easier for me to be close to him. I was getting bolder with every experiment of flirtation, even though as I was teaching I avoided thinking of it that way. Over the time Kenshin and I had been living together I was getting more confident in general about being relaxed around him as time went on. Now, as I explained how to perform the scan, I felt comfortable about leaning over him and pointing out the right buttons to push, and leaned on his shoulder without a second thought. I didn't notice until later that the time alone on the _Alexandria_ had brought us much closer than a whole month back at the dojo.   
    Under my instruction he flipped the switch next to the scan button for low range and entered the instruction with a command. The scan began with an outward spherical spiral, and the holo image shown up for a visual, with the statistics at its side. I pointed out the different types of material shown in the scan, and explained how all matter shows up in a scan but not all of it was identifiable. I felt as if I might have been loading him down with too much information to absorb at once, and so I gave him the exercise of picking different statistics and trying to identify what they were. Sometimes he would get them right recognizably, and sometimes (since I'm no expert either) we would discuss the stats and consider the possibilities.   
    "You should see how Dom-dun does it, he's so fast at picking up what's usable energy particles and what's space junk it makes my head spin. He can look at a coordinate's locus value and tell you what planet a rock is from, or whether it's an old mine left over from wars. It's amazing to watch." Kenshin gave no reply, which confused me but I let it go without much thought. As he moved around into another quadrant I gave him a few more tips. "Don't forget that you can assume that when something has either a vapor trail, engine trail, or dust trail that you can calculate the course of the object if you want. You can always tell if there's a trail by the presence of matter, but you can only tell what kind of trail within the low power range."   
     Kenshin was staring hard at one of the stats on the screen, and kept glancing back to the visual projection. "Kaoru-dono, am I wrong, or is this very, very large in comparison to other things in the scan, to be outside of an asteroid belt and all de gozaru ka?"   
    "Huh? Lemme see," I pushed in to see on equal level with Kenshin and looked it over several times. "I'm not sure, but it is pretty large, and it does have a matter trail here, see?" I pointed. "What a perfect opportunity! This is what long range scans are for, to see in detail something that you catch with the short range." I switched the scanning switch back to low power and explained that for training purposes it would be a waste of energy otherwise.   
    Kenshin performed the scan himself this time, and we zoned in to the area where the comet was. Only, apparently, it wasn't a comet, but another ship. The trail was an engine trail, and the ship was emanating heat, radio signals and electricity. Kenshin and I, I imagine, were feeling pretty impressed with our skills at detecting the ship and using what we had learned, so of course we ended up taking it a step farther.   
    "So how does one calculate courses, de gozaru ka?"   
    To his surprise I shrugged, but continued unexpectedly, "To calculate it yourself takes really incredible math skills, it has something to do with the equation and slope of a line running through a tri-axis graph of x, y, and z. However, personally I have no idea what that means, and I think it would take me years to understand, and so, that is why there are programs that do it for you! ^.^" I smiled warmly at Kenshin and showed him how to bring up the input program window. "All you really have to do is look at the stats, and pick two coordinates, one on the ship in the estimated center, and the other in the estimated center of the trail. The computer will do the rest, and it will come up on the visual."   
    Kenshin nodded and did as I told him slowly as he chose coordinates and input them. He did it so carefully and slowly that I noticed one of his pet peeves was to be a perfectionist. The knowledge made me smile because no one's perfect, not even (and especially not) Kenshin. His own will to be perfect at the things he learned and practiced must have been what drove him to become the best swordsman in Japan. He finally got the coordinates he wanted, and put them in with an interesting result.   
    The screen flashed red and signed something in English which neither of us could read, but, as I had learned from Dom-kun, and Kenshin had learned from me, it meant: **WARNING**.   
    The rest of the warning was in English, and I couldn't read it, but once the sign stopped flashing I could tell what the problem was. Underneath the sign was the visual of the course, and according to the computer, we were on a direct crash course with the alien craft in about ten minutes.   
    There was a pause before Kenshin and I slowly turned to look at each other. Although I knew perfectly well that there was a chance that the ship would change its course, I saw in Kenshin's eyes my deeper fears and feelings reflected. I had a bad feeling about this.   
  
    It haunted me late into the night, and all of the next day throughout my lesson with Kaoru. Damn Tackets! He implanted something in my mind that seemed to bag at every thought, and jar itself into everything I said and did. So now I was working on insignificant amounts of sleep, around the very thing that plagued my thoughts, and turned my normal concerns into mind-eating obsessions.   
    "You're vulnerable."   
    "You're vulnerable."   
    "You're vulnerable."   
    I heard Tackets' exact tome repeating it all throughout the day. It raised two new layers of questions, one that just required deep thought, and reflection of the soul, and some more deep thought. The other, I could not figure out. I could have an opinion, I could invent scenarios in my head to act out my different theories, but there was no true answer to me. The answer did not exist, and so, it haunted me.   
    The first question was whether or not; in my time away from Roxanne after our fight I had become unfaithful, because, in my mind, that is what it would be, unfaithful. We hadn't broken up, and I thought about her almost every couple of hours, and tried to suppress my feeling of guilt and self-doubt thereof. Was I flirting with Kaoru too much? Did I start to turn to her in my loneliness, in my longing for Roxanne, in my pain at loosing a friend, because I was vulnerable, and not because I was trying to be her friend? Was I using her as an escape from my problems? All of these possibilities were morally wrong in my eyes, and so I turned a very stern eye on myself and kept watch over my every reaction to find the answer.   
    I may be a scientist of sorts, but in a way, and in a matter of the heart, I couldn't help but to manipulate the data somewhat. My conclusion that I was not doing those things that had bothered me was based on how I had observed myself acting during Kaoru's lesson (or Yahiko's lesson, if you can call it that). Under my own scrupulous observance I was distant, quiet, and shy towards Kaoru, thereby proving I was not turning to her in my vulnerability, but having been provoked by the knowledge that I might be doing so, I wasn't sure it counted. However, it could never count, because every time I conscientiously evaluated myself, I would forever more be what I wanted to be at that time. I had to let my mind rest with that question though, because there was another more important one to be had.   
    My second haunting dilemma was the fact that I had always considered myself a strong willed person. Whenever I wanted to do something I could do it, whenever I wanted to change the person I was, I would, whenever I wanted to know something I would learn it and memorized it meticulously, whenever I wanted to explain something I spoke with perfection of tone and emotion, trying to afflict my listener to their very core with what I was saying. I wasn't perfect, but if I wanted to I could act with perfect tact, perfect manners, perfect cleanliness, lack of impediment of mind, perfect charm, conviction, passion, romance, authority, and cooperation. I could do all these things, and yet I was vulnerable?   
    I suppose I could have let everything go except for the simple impossible problem that I _associated vulnerability with weakness_. Someone that lacked weakness could not be vulnerable. I didn't lack weakness; I just didn't know what it was. Was it Roxanne? Was it women? Did I lack something that others had? I didn't lack experience, secrecy, openness, kindness, and anger, some level of fragility… I went through every possible characteristic in my mind, but I couldn't find anything that was a weakness. I didn't let my feelings for Roxanne hinder my work, so it couldn't be her that was causing to be vulnerable, she didn't make me weak. The same went for Varn. Why would Tackets say that with suck serious severity? I couldn't figure it out at all. The best thing I could do was to try not to be vulnerable, if that was possible, which it like trying to completely lack weakness isn't it? Which, in my opinion, isn't possible.   
    The only thing I could think to do was to get the opinion of someone else, someone whom I trusted to know that I had a weakness (and therefore- no one on the ship besides Tackets, and certainly not Tackets because… he was Tackets, cold unfeeling bastard of all the worlds) and now that Varn was dead, there was only one person in my life to turn to, which was sad, because that meant I had only two people in the universe whom I trusted (or was that a strength?).   
    I wrote the letter to Roxanne several times. Each time I erased what I had written before because it seemed _too_ weak or _too_ offensive, given the current situation of our relationship. So I finally came up with the basest thing I could manage:   
    **Roxanne-   
    

I know you're probably not talking to me, but in case you are, I was just wondering… -Are weakness and vulnerability the same thing?- And, I look forward to seeing you again.   
    -Dominic

**   
    I was surprised that the writing of the letter made me nervous. I was nervous about her reply, and about her reaction to my even writing her. I had no idea what the consequences of her anger were, because she had never before been angry at me like before I left. Perhaps she had forgiven me… but, being such a passionate person as she was, and without the ability to just let life pass her by idly, she might have harbored the angry feelings with reverence, there was no way of knowing.   
    Right after I had finished the letter, and sent it, with my nerves on end already, was about the time that I heard a feverish knock on my door.   
    "Open" I said to the voice receiver that would open the door. "Taihenda!" (_Emergency!_) Reached my ears before I could see Kaoru and Kenshin spill into the room. I was surprised that they managed not to fall.   
    My oversensitive nerves sprang to attention and had me on my feet in an instant. "What happened?" I said freely in English, with no remembrance for Japanese at the time, but they had on translators so it was fine.   
    "We were running a scan… I was teaching Kenshin how to run a scan when we discovered that there is a ship, like this one, on course to hit the _Alexandria_ soon." Kaoru urged me to follow herself and Kenshin to the bridge, which I did. My shyness of Kaoru was gone with my sense of duty and concern for our well being.   
    We jogged to the bridge and they cleared the way for me to work with the computer. I didn't notice it then, but all of my deep reflective thoughts had been pushed aside in the name of nerves and duty. My hands flew over the keyboard to double check their findings, and then take the scanners back into the ship so that I would be free to hail the ship, and be ready for battle stations if necessary. Windows flashed and flitted in front of my eyes, I only needed one look before I closed it and opened another. The other ship's velocity and estimated weight imprinted in my mind, almost as they had been imprinted in the ship's memory when it had taken a high power long range scan.   
    I traced the communications line to the other ship, and found that it's serial number had been wiped clean and it was not registered with the trade route government, a very unusual and suspicious occurrence. I hailed and waited for the line to be connected or rejected. After a few tense seconds there was a window that displayed results that flashed red for 'rejected'.   
    Following protocol with a heavy sinking feeling I hailed again to check for errors. The hail was rejected again. I couldn't assume the worst from that just yet, because there could be other reasons for that, including the other ship having extreme technical difficulties.   
    I turned and without effort directly addressed Kaoru with the most authoritative and imperative voice I could. "Remember how I showed you to strap people into the emergency seats?" She nodded with a worried look, "Show everyone how to do that, the both of you," I regarded Kenshin, "and strap in yourselves as well, the ship will be maneuvering and it's not safe otherwise. This isn't yet a cause for alarm, but I hope we'll avoid any complications this way." _Good, this gets them out of my way,_ I couldn't help but think. I turned back to the bridge and turned on the alert switch, throwing the ship into a different mode in which yellow lights blinked near the ceiling and the ship started to power up.   
    Kaoru and Kenshin disappeared from my sights in a flash, and were soon replaced with Tackets, all business. "What do we have?" He asked before he even reached the bridge. I took my seat on the right side of the consol, with the weapons, and began to strap in while briefing Tackets.   
    "During a scan there was a ship on course to intercept ours directly at (155, 67, 9300). We would have crashed, so I hailed, and they rejected the hail twice." I awaited my order after that, as Tackets mulled it over a little and buckled himself in. He was technically of higher rank than me, even though it was my ship. The authority was given to him, unless it was a really serious situation, in which case he would probably have handed command over to the owner of the ship, me.   
    "Easy, we move out of the way, we'll have to come out of compression, which is a bitch, but oh well. If they follow us through and go after us… well, then, that's how we know whether or not they're friendlies. You'd better get the weapons charged and ready for when we come out of compression."   
    I nodded and started at my work, activating the weapons with a release password, warming them up and charging them, as well as putting out the holodisplay scan (which served for aiming while in battle instead of the huge scan disks that covered and hindered the ship) and putting on an aiming headset. The headset allowed me to look out of the ship's front window and zoom in on areas so that I could choose more specific areas to aim. I held the firing joystick and watched the steaming holodisplay of our surroundings. "Ready," said I.   
    "Check the passengers for me," Tackets continued to do his work. I, on the other hand, pulled up a scan of the interior of the ship and saw that all five passengers were seated and locked in place.   
    "Ready."   
    "Decompressing space." Tackets increased the energy output and turned a dial that decompressed space. Star lines reduced into line segments, and then reverted back to their original dots. We went from a full speed pace of passing solar systems by in a second, to a full speed where we seemed to creep along the immense stretch of the universe, never ending.   
    "Plotting new course." Tackets began the long and mind grueling procedure of finding a safe pathway in space while I did my own job.   
    "Visually scanning…" I looked onto the holodisplay and searched around the ship, checking some areas more closely with my head set once, and then did the whole sphere again. "We seem to be clear."   
    "I'm still plotting, continue your scan." I sighed heavily and continued the monotonous and continuous task of visually scanning the whole visible sphere around the ship. The third time, far above and to the front of us appeared a ship. The same ship. "Visual confirmation. (190, 602, 49)"   
    "Is it approaching?"   
    "Not as of yet, it could be visually scanning for us," I zoomed in the headset to confirm.   
    "Or it could be waiting for something, don't bother, arm the charge cannon and the LE guns."   
    I did as I was told, and had no time to resent the fact that if we survived this, which, with the _Alexandria's_ technology, was inevitable, I would have to recharge the ship in order to compress again.   
    Two more ships decompressed around us right in the middle of the LE gun software loading, to my surprise, and I realized that this was now a serious battle and a serious emergency.   
    "Computer log:" Tackets addressed the computers data recorder. "Tackets transferring authority over to the owner and caretaker of the _Alexandria_, Dominic Sawyer. End log." He then turned to me, "Well captain?"   
    I accepted the change without much delay, and immediately began planning the battle out in my head. But, as always, policy first, and with the questions that Kenshin brought up about the attempt for peace ringing in my head, I brought up the hailing equipment. "Hailing unidentified ships-"   
    "Are you insane? 'Unidentified', they're foes, that's clear."   
    "You've handed command over to me-"   
    "I wouldn't have if I thought you were so incompetently ready to kill us all!"   
    I was sick of arguing with Tackets, this was not the time, "I order you to shut up; I think the hail is going through."   
    The middle part of the bridge's window filled with a gray screen, which was soon replaced by the bridge of another ship, a man stared right back at me, with the same headset on, and probably the same face, before he smiled, "Copenhagen justice. DOWN WITH MANIFEST DESTINY!" His abrupt change in attitude from calm, to sinister, to frantic, was climaxed by the disappearance of the hailing screen. My heart skipped a beat at all the implications that were fixed within that one hailing, but my mind flew back to the space before it and saw as one of the ship's burst forward with an engine thrust and maneuvered to charge us.   
    I gulped and wet my lips in preparation for my first space battle as a captain. And my first space battle ever. My mind and heart were panicking, but my voice, at least, sounded calm, dependable and in control. "Evade whatever they throw at us. We can't fire until they do."   
    "I'm regretting handing command over to a greenhorn like you," Tackets commented as he readied the engines and waited for some sort of oncoming attack.   
    "Too bad, they're civilians, that's how it goes." My hand twitched and waited for the chance to fire, but the ship wasn't firing. It continued to come toward us full speed. The eerie possibility of the truth shot through my mind, "Roll to starboard and then blast forward when I say 'now'." I watched as the ship drew nearer from below us, at full speed there would be an overlapping time of when we would crash, and how long it would take us to barrel roll, unless I timed it just right. After it was too late for the other ship to stop its maneuver, and before the crash was possible. I watched closer with a knot in my throat.   
    The ship neared, "Now!" I felt my stomach lurch in the artificial gravity as the gravity generator struggled to keep up with the roll. While still on an angle, and just missing the ship from the bottom, we blasted forward quickly.   
    "Evade! And for the sake of Man turn the gravity generator the hell off!" My heart was beating rapidly and I was sweating in the cool environment. When the grav-gen turned off, I felt lighter all of a sudden and my stomach settled. That's when I finally registered my passengers' screams. Kaoru had screamed anew when the grav-gen offed, and before Megumi, Yahiko, and Sano had at least yelped. I heard Yahiko make a sickened noise, and forced my self to ignore them.   
    "Okay, now what?" Tackets yelled at me.   
    "They know that we can't legally shoot at them until they shoot at us, so they aren't going to shoot at us, they're trying to kamikaze ram us."   
    "What?"   
    "They're doing suicide runs!" I was exasperated with him, he was supposed to know Japanese, and even if he didn't know 21st century expressions, it was still annoying.   
    "Okay… so, now what?" He repeated.   
    "Do you have that course planned out?"   
    "No."   
    "Finish it. I want to compress into that course, decompress, and then compress again into our original course." I was trying to make them run out of energy before we did, which, since I was on board giving us an unlimited source of power, we could do by compressing and decompressing several times. Compressing and decompressing took a lot of energy.   
    "I see. But how am I going to complete the course _and_ fly?"   
    "Hand the controls over to my side."   
    "That's possible?" Tackets asked with genuine disbelief. I could have answered him the long way and said that it was, but it was nearly impossible to pilot and handle weapons controls at the same time, unless someone like me, knew my ship so well that… it was barely possible. Instead, I just said, "Yes."   
    "And if they start shooting?"   
    "Then the plan gets abandoned, you take flying back, and I shoot their asses down."   
    "Right then. I'm transferring controls."   
    My whole display lit up with the extra surge of electricity and information. I knew it would hold for a little while and hoped that Tackets would work faster than ever before. The ship wavered in that one second before I took my hands off of the joystick and weapons stabilizer, and transferred them to steering. I opened up a small window on the consol and displayed speed, slowed us down to make a turn around and see where the enemy was without having to yet take my hands off the controls for holoscanning. When the speed was set I took one hand off of there and used it to pull back on the manual steering control as I used the other now free hand to stabilize the weapons once more and then lock them in place as quickly as possible. Once they were locked I had to use a password to unlock them again if I wanted, so I ran that risk, but once out of the turn I had to switch back to digital steering, which took both hands and both eyes.   
    Well, usually it would take both eyes, but in my case I had to trust in my knowledge of my ship and look up, leaving my hands alone to steer by memory of where coordinates fell on the window in relation to the ship's window, which I was now looking through with my head piece. I spotted two of the three ships, and cursed. I was hoping to have been able to see all of them and therefore not have to concentrate on both flying and scanning for the ship at the same time. My confidence wavered, but but concentration did not.   
    _Don't get anxious… you'll screw up, breathe._ I started breathing again, whereas I had forgotten to do so in the last half-minute. I concentrated fully on my fingertips working the steering as I slowly turned my head to the holodisplay. With a silent prayer I let two fingers cover both steering panels and my hand flew up as fast as possible to zoom in to the back half of the ship, and then back down in an instant to steer again. The ship wavered during this procedure, as if responding to its pilot's emotions. I was half proud of the work that I had just managed, and half scared to death, and I had no time for either.   
    Luckily, now that I had been steering for a little while, I was able to spot the third ship, memorize its position, and turn my head back to the screen, where two ships were rushing at me as I had been working. The picture imprinted in my brain even as I looked down at the steering to do a half twist downward dive. To my dismay, in addition to the first two ships following through my move, the third one was also now on my tail, and all three gaining. "Tackets, how long?!" A bit of the inner PANIC I had been experiencing escaped through my throat against my will.   
    Tackets mumbled something, and then, "twenty seconds."   
    I felt hotness in my face, and in my stomach, as sweat droplets formed along my hairline and slid down my back. Twenty seconds seemed like an eternity of time. At least for my next maneuver I wouldn't have to check where the ships were, I knew because they were **right behind me!** I looked down and considered several options, rejecting each within a fraction of a second. It occurred to me that the only plans I didn't reject were always the most dangerous.   
    For my new stunt, I looked down, took the steering with one hand, and used the other to cut my speed. I had to do all my timing by personal calculations, memories and estimates because I couldn't look up. When I estimated that they were only a few meters away from my tail I hit the speed again and at the same time pushed upwards, let go of the speed, and tried to do a half twist to loose them, but when I let go of the speed I had forgotten to lock it, so it went back to moderate, and all three of the ships followed my maneuver easily. I panicked and reached out to correct the speed, and sped up going in a straight line, in which my tails would start gaining on me again when their speed recovered from also being slowed (because no one in their right mind would have pulled the maneuver I had just done at the speed I was trying to do it).   
    I cursed again and realized we were screwed.   
    "Its ready!" Tackets, O, blessed Tackets! I loved that man right then.   
    "GO GO GO GO GO!!!" At which point the coordinates were processed and we compressed. I immediately transferred piloting back to Tackets, and had I been standing, I would have collapsed. I put my arms on my armrest so that Tackets couldn't see them shaking. "Don't decompress until they come after us."   
    Right on cue the three ships popped up around our own, and I groaned. "Decompressing," Tackets was basically carrying out the plan alone.   
    "Do the same again, with compressing. Don't compress until they follow. They won't have enough energy to compress again. For that matter, neither will we, but I can refill the tanks with-"   
    "Sawyer, I know."   
    "Oh." I felt the aftermath of fight or flight: exhaustion.   
    "That was pretty cool though. I've never seen anyone ever do that."   
    "Thanks," and that was the last time he ever complimented me with sincerity. I reveled in the brief moment.   
    "They followed, compressing."   
    "I'm going, I'm going." The warning was taken off of the ship, the lights stopped flashing, and I unhooked myself. On my way to the LE Room, I told the others that they were free to take off their straps and such. They seemed to have plenty of questions, but I was too high on adrenaline to care, and the ship needed energy too badly for me to dawdle.   
  
  
  
    Notes ^.^:   
    -**Important**: I can no longer put out chapters as quickly as I used to, I'm not in Junior year and for the first time (possibly in my life) really working very hard. I don't have time to write except of weekends, and I write this fic as well as another, and I'm also working primarily on a novel. However, if you leave a signed review, I will email you when there is a new chapter.   
    -**My website:** chapters come out first there, and in addition, I will have scans of my drawings of the characters, as well as scans of the different scenes. (ex. I designed a picture of what Earth looks like in the future.) There will be a guide for the plot, as well as guides to the workings of the ships, and character profiles. Go there at some point; the email group will now hold updates about what's on there.   


**www.angelfire.com/anime4/marajadeblu0**   
    

-**Manifest Destiny**: In case you haven't studied it in school yet, Manifest Destiny was the belief that many US citizens held that they were destiney to own America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Indian tribes, Mexicans, British, anyone that stood in our way we took over or (except for the British- we just bought them out) killed in wars without mercy. We populated the West, and then took it over by saying that since we lived there it was rightfully ours. That's how 'the west was won'. It also had to do with the desire to spread democracy, and in some ways, it is still going on. Do research if you like, for someone like me, I find it a rather facinating subject.   


-MaraJadeblu   



	12. Ah the dangers of boredom

  
    **Disclaimer**: zen zen arimasen. (Trans: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, it belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and other people, but not me.) (Too many hours of Kodacha under the belt by the time I wrote the last portion, and this)   
    Warnings:   
    Based solely on anime- Basically a fourth season of Kenshin...   
    *English* ____ Third and first person mix_____ _thoughts_   
    "zen zen arimasen" DOES NOT mean what I say it does.   
    Instead of having vocabulary at the beginning of the chapter, translations are right next to the Japanese words.   
  
  
    Chapter 8: Ah the dangers of boredom…   
  
  
    I stared at Taketsu with my eyes half closed, getting very tired of playing this game over and over, and over. Sure,. I was winning almost every time, but the fun was still lacking. Every time I tried to call off the game Taketsu would comment on how I was ahead and needed to give him a chance to catch up. Finally, finally- FINALLY it was my last move.   
    I won again.   
    I took back what I had said before about it being a big ship. (That was when I was lost, if you didn't notice, it was an excuse.) It was actually a very tiny tiny miniscule ship, full to the brim with seven bored, and (sometimes very IRRITATING) people. Once Yahiko had given up on learning everything Kaoru was learning about the ship, and had realized he wouldn't get to fly it things got so much worse. I had a headache, right in between my eyes- and kitsune and I had been fighting so I wasn't about to ask HER what to do. Dom might have been able to help, but he was teaching, and I was tired, oh so tired, at looking at Taketsu's face.   
    "Oi, you got anything to do on this ship?" I asked Tacketsu.   
    "Wanna play a game of-"   
    "NO." I looked around for something to do and saw nothing, nothing but seats and metal walls- I just wasn't cut out for this kinda life, it was like being in jail.   
    Its times like these when a person gets to thinking too much. I'd nothing to do on that damn ship, but I couldn't think of any activities I missed- _what exactly do I _do_ with my life? Gamble, drink… eat… hang out at the dojo (the dojo's right HERE- inside this less-than-dojo-area of ship), go to the Akabeko (usually with the people right here)…   
    …   
    …   
    Damnit. I really do nothing with my life…
_ My thoughts wandered back to Katsuhiro- _there's a man just like me, same background, same previous obsessions and problems- but he _does_ something. He writes anti-government articles. _   
    I paused and thought about my past- what I did that was interesting… I used to hire myself out to take people out as a gangster- not happening. Then there was the whole must-get-stronger-save-Japan-from-Shishio thing. _Okay, so I'm a fighter- I'm fine with that.   
    One problem-   
    THERE'S NO ONE TO FIGHT ON THIS DAMN SHIP!
_   
    "Ne, Kenshin…"   
    "Mm?" Kenshin looked up from his place at the table. He had been sitting idly, propping up his head with his elbow, eyes fixated on the only window in the damn ship.   
    "Wanna fight?"   
    Kenshin fell over. After a brief interlude of righting himself in his seat he sweatdropped and looked at me, "Not… particularly…"   
    "Ug!" I plopped down on the seat. "What are you doing anyway?" Kenshin was back to his original position- being all pensive and silent as usual. He sweatdropped again as if he had been caught doing something wrong and pathetically smiled at me, preparing to lie or something. "Sessha is thinking."   
    Uh-huh- riiiight. "You're worse at lying than Yahiko." I decided to look in the direction he was staring. Usually I'd believe him, except for his reaction to my oh-so-hard-to-answer question of "What are you doing?" So, he was staring out the window, that's fine, it was fascinating, mesmerizing, I'll admit. Then why the red-handed act? Movement caught my attention- Kaoru turning to ask Dom a question, and then Dom smiled and gave an answer that made Kaoru laugh.   
    Wait… a … second…   
    "Masaka… omae wa…"(Couldn't be… you're) I raised an eyebrow and didn't complete my sentence for the moping Kenshin, who was clearly preoccupied. That's what he was doing… moping. Close quarters with the girl he cared for must have been affecting him as well, especially when she was spending all her time with another man. I'd never had Kenshin pegged as the jealous type, after all he lived with Kaoru and he was never bothered when other men took an interest in her… like that artist guy. Then again, he's Kenshin, maybe he didn't notice.   
    _If that guy's not careful one day he's gonna look up and realize that because he has the courting pace of a rock, she just might end up liking someone else._ I sat down at the booth and poked Kenshin to get his attention.   
    "Kenshin, I've got a story to tell you-"   
    Kenshin blinked and pretended he didn't want to be looking to his right, "Huh?"   
    "So this uh… fisherman- goes every morning to a lake to fish, and he wants to get a specific fish to bring home and put in his… fountain, and the fish wants to go live with the guy too-"   
    "The fish wants to get caught? I wish it was really like that…" Kenshin commented on his poor fishing skills…     "Its an enchanted lake with enchanted fish, OK? Anyway-"   
    "Who enchanted the la-"   
    "Just shut up. The fisherman is also afraid to catch the fish, because once he puts the fish in the fountain he can't fish anymore."   
    "Wh-"   
    "BECAUSE its an ENCHANTED fountain, OK?"   
    "What did he do to get so cursed?"   
    I was ready to kill him, "He did a lot of bad stuff a long time ago. And he's an IDIOT. So anyway- the fish _really_ was looking forward to her new life, and waited every single day to be caught. Every day the fisherman would go down to the lake and stare longingly at the fish, and she at him, but he never cast his line. He figured he still had plenty of time, and was afraid to face his fear. The lady fish, to try and get him to cast his line, and because she just likes him so much and is afraid he'll stop even coming for her to gaze at sends him lots of other fish for him to eat and sell- so basically, she feeds this man and puts money in his pockets." That was the only part that seemed to be even vaguely reaching Kenshin. He became thoughtful for a moment, but lost the thread. I thought it was maybe because I stopped using the word fish… I sighed, if I got any more obvious I wouldn't be hinting anymore.   
    "The fisherman got so careless that one day he was late, and after waiting for him for so long the fish wandered off to… I don't know, cry, or … teach or something."   
    "Fish… don't cry Sano-"   
    "This fish does, damnit, its enchanted. When the fisherman got there he didn't think much of it, and waited for a while before going inside. Now every morning the fish would be late, and later and later. And the fisherman never cast his line, even though she still came after so long and he seemed to be loosing her. Then one day, she didn't come at all. He was worried, but showed up and again, again no fish. This continued until it was apparent he had lost his fish. It turns out, that day when he was late she discovered that there was another fisherman on the other side of the lake, and he was very kind to her and loved talking to her-"   
    "She can talk-"   
    "Enchanted! She can now! He offered to catch her, but she kept refusing in hopes that her fisherman would cast his line. He didn't though, and so she would spend more and more time being comforted for her broken heart by the new fisherman, and everyday the old fisherman would stand there and not cast his line, so she finally gave up on him, thinking he didn't want her, and went with the new fisherman, and was very happy- but she could never get it out of her mind or heart, that she might have been happier if that fisherman had just cast his line in the first place." I heaved a sigh, "Owari"(the end). "Oh, and by the way, the fisherman lived an unhappy and lonesome life after that, and never fished again, and regretted it forever- the end."   
    If I was waiting for Kenshin to come to some sort of revelation- I should have brought a pillow and some food. So I pushed it. "So… what do you think?" He was back to mope position number one, and seemed to be even more subdued/pensive/unresponsive. Hmm, maybe I made him more depressed… O well. "Y'know, of the story- Kenshin." I said his name to get his attention, which kinda worked. "Particularly what did you think of the fisherman and the fish?"   
    "Sessha thought the fish was a very… kind and caring fish, but that she waited too long. She should have gone off to be happy much sooner than she did." I wanted to smack my head; this guy was doomed. "As for the fisherman, sessha thinks he got just what he deserved de gozaru yo."   
    He really didn't get it… it was saddening, really. "Don't you think the fisherman should have just cast the line?"   
    "But he didn't."   
    "Yea, but don't you think he should've?"   
    "No," _No?! You're kidding me!_ "Whatever reasons he had for not doing so were his, that's the kind of person he was. They were his mistakes, they can't be changed, it's a story, he got what he deserved."   
    _C'mon, Kenshin!_ I got more urgent and spoke quicker, "What if he was a real person- what if you could go back in time and give him advice, what would you say?"   
    Kenshin stared at me blankly, became a little suspicious, and answered slowly, "Then I would tell him to cast the line…" Suddenly, it all seemed to click for him- "Sano… Are you asking me-"   
    I sat up. _Yes, c'mon…_   
    "-for advice about Megumi-dono?"   
    Hopeless.   
    "No, Kenshin. Who in their right mind would ask you for love advice?" I stood up in disgust and sought out other means of entertainment.   
    "Actually, I was thinking that myself de gozaru…"   
    I snorted in dissatisfaction and strode away. The nagging feeling came back with one look around the room. Somehow the closed in metal walls of this tin can reflected my dissatisfaction back at me. The feeling wouldn't go away. Now what to do? I even stooped to playing matchmaker and arguing about the enchantment of fish-- there has to be more to life than that. Back home, on Earth, there was so much more to look at outside so that I didn't have to look within all the time. I had no restrictions; there were no boundaries. The new place I was going- something told me that I would probably be reabsorbed into my surroundings there, at least for a while. But a tin can was a tin can and…   
    And, well, I had to ask myself- is that good enough?   
    Is it good enough to jut forget this empty feeling and deal with it later? _No… I don't run away from my problems that way anymore. I'm not gonna hide my dissatisfaction with my life underneath a lifetime of fighting and gambling._ This was it- I had to deal.   
     But how, was the next question. I moved into my "room" that I shared with Kenshin and laid down on our counter. (There was only room enough for one person to lay down, so whoever got the floor got the only pillow- which was usually Kenshin because he was so used to sleeping on the floor with his knees up and sakabatou against his shoulder. I closed my eyes against the cramped, dark ceiling.   
    I was a young guy, all my life ahead of me, plenty to do… but what to do? My plans had been to travel pretty soon anyway, but I was planning on wandering around aimlessly basically doing whatever I wanted and taking care of the bare necessitates.   
    What can I do? Fight, drink, gamble and talk- that's about it and the only places those are useful for are the backwater, underground gangs and dealings. Then again- who says that can't be helpful? Making connections and being informed about the peoples opinions, as well as the powers in control besides the government was very useful. Surely I could find something productive to do with that. After all, I'd already made a connection with Taketsu-   
    I decided to go exercise my newfound purpose.   
    I headed out of the room and back to the booth, and sure enough, Taketsu was around. "Oi, Taketsu!"   
    He raised his head and gave me a crooked look, "*Yes?*"   
    I took that as acknowledgement and put in the earpiece he tossed me. "Can you tell me about the place we're heading?"   
    "Where, Inok?"   
    _Sure, whatever._ "Yea, that one."   
    Taketsu rolled his eyes, "Fine. Inok: Space Station # 9 since the frontier breech. Population- about 65 million residential, a hundred million at any given time. Mostly human population- some other species such as the Lai, Miflis, some unpronounceable race we call the Groog (they gurgle a lot). Many occupations are merchant based, considering Inok is best known as a human trade post. There's a large military presence there obviously- that's why the main adept base is there. The space station's been around a while, its pretty big and well established. You could say it qualified as a space-city. Plenty to do… wanna play cards now?"   
    Sweat. Drop.   
  
    Yes, I'm sulking, de gozaru yo. Leave me alone to my thoughts of self-pity until I get over it. Damn ship.   
  
    _I hate this ship. I hate this ship. I hate this ship. I hate this ship._ With every swing of my shinai I repeated that in my mind. I had loved the ship- two days ago. Now it was small, and full of really irritating people. As long as I could keep that mantra in my head, and train in my room separated from everyone else, I could be productive and not fight with everyone constantly. That _is_ what I did all the time anyway- but there's nowhere to _run_ in here. Plus, considering her training had something to do with the end of the human race -and I had absolutely no clue what Dom was talking about- I probably shouldn't disturb Kaoru anyway.   
    Besides, training was supposed to be monotonous.   
  
    DIGESTION: In your mouth, there is salivary amylase which breaks down the polysaccharides into smaller polysaccharides, then there is mechanical digestion via the teeth, our dentition is suited to an omnivorous diet of plant *and* animal proteins. The bolus then travels down the esophagus, which is not lined with cartilage, unlike the trachea, and enters the stomach, which has a ph of 2, due to large amounts of hydrochloric acid, and there, polysaccharides are broken down into monosaccharides by pepsin, which is actually pepsinogen activated by the acidic hydrochloric acid. After a few hours of this breakdown, the acidic chyme enters duodenum of the intestine, which is basic, to neutralize the acidity of the chyme…   
    I blinked a couple of times and backed away from the panel- mou, I had sooo much to learn. It made me tired just thinking about it, but whenever I thought about it I also got excited. The advancements made in medicine were beyond my wildest dreams! Bullet wounds, limb loss, chronic diseases, drug addiction, loss of blood, a bad heart, tuberculosis, any sort of internal damage to organs like a punctured lung or a stomach wound- it was all curable! The only people who died anymore were people that encountered Enders, or got a strange and not yet curable foreign disease from non-humans. That, and in places like on Earth where there were just too many people. And of course, the idiots that don't go to doctors.   
    I clasped my hands together and felt my eyes sparkle- oh to be able to cure anything! I would be the best doctor in the world. No, really. As in, if I went back to our time after studying here- I would _actually_ be the best doctor in the world. I blushed happily. Ohohohoho ^.^ Then Kenshin would-   
    I stopped that thought right there. I couldn't do that anymore. That is, fantasize about Kenshin and what would get him to return my attentions. It was a habit I had to get out of- the best way to change your actions is to change your thoughts. And I had given up on Kenshin. I really had…   
    It hurt so much.   
    I went back to studying about pepsin and polysaccharides, digestion and some other stuff.   
  
    "OK? So that's how boosters work," Dom flashed a winning smile at his prize student and closed the window. "I guess I should go save your friend Sano from Tackets before he gets brain damage. Meanwhile, feel free to show Kenshin what you've learned."   
    "Thanks!" Kaoru smiled back, then reconsidered. "Isn't this a state of the art time traveler Tatnum 6000?"   
    Inwardly, Dom was extremely impressed, "Yes?"   
    "Well- I kindof know how to fly it now… why isn't information like this confidential?"   
    Dom's smile hardly changed, Kaoru could only register the slight raise of eyebrows and understood that he was still withholding his emotions as a teacher. "True, and its restricted unless it has to do with adept business. And, well, your friends all followed you here- so that makes them 'involved'. Or so say I," he winked for effect. "The real confidential stuff you'll learn when we get there."   
    Kaoru only paused a second considering his words while he walked away before she excitedly went over to Kenshin.   
    _She's coming over here- act like you haven't been sitting here staring at her, waiting for this moment for most of the day!!!!_ Part of Kenshin answered back, _This is pathetic._ But he squished it, _Shut up you!_ "Konichiwa Kaoru-dono," it felt weird to say it, since time seemed to stand still on the ship.   
    "Would you still like to know about the ship Kenshin? Today I learned steering with Dom-kun! ^.^"   
    Kenshin smiled, but something inside him bubbled angrily. "You seem genki de gozaru."(energetic) _There was no need for her to mention Dom- of course I knew it was with him that she was learning stuff, I had, after all, spent the day staring at their backs- and still with the -kun!_ Kenshin paused, wondering at the course his thoughts had suddenly taken, and shrugged it off as cabin fever.   
    "It's so fun to be learning how to do this, don't you think? C'mon, I'll show you." She took Kenshin's hand bravely and dragged him over to the bridge. As they sat themselves down she inquired some more, "So, what did you do all day?"   
    _I bored holes into your head as you laughed and enjoyed yourself with that man…_ "Not much, I relaxed de gozaru."   
    Kaoru looked at him sideways, "You relax too much, its about time you have some sort of job to do," she teased. "Here, unlock the system this way…"   
    "Oro?! My life is relaxing de gozaru ka?!" A sweatdrop rolled off his head, _I have more scars on my right arm than you have teeth in your head!_   
    Kaoru laughed and smiled at him, "I'm just kidding, Kenshin." Their eyes locked for a couple of seconds. Kenshin found himself calming at her reassuring look, as she resisted the urge to poke him affectionately. He was being so cute; she vaguely wished she could kiss him on the cheek- just a peck.   
  
    Dom sighed, another day, another training session, another fight with Tackets.   
    He lay down in bed, confident that the ship would be fine if he rested a little, and let his mind drift. They would reach Inok soon, and Roxanne would be there…   
    Roxanne… were they really broken up? It didn't seem real, didn't seem it could be real…   


~~~~~Memory~~~~~

    Dom nervously kneaded his hands as he walked toward Roxanne. That day she wore a loose blue blouse and tight tan suede pants and tall brown boots. Instead of wearing her LEL around her waist she carried it in a holster strapped from one shoulder to the opposite hip. He thought she looked very fashionable. _Only she could manage to do that and wear such casual clothes on a space station_, he thought fondly.   
    He noticed that she was scowling, and that she had chosen to wear her hair down. Her curly black hair caressed her cheeks as she turned to meet him. He smiled as best he could. "Hello."   
    He noticed that her scowl couldn't help but lighten a little when she looked at him… even though it was directed at him. He smiled again more heartily but also more afraid of what would come of it. "Oh, hi."   
    They paused awkwardly, he knew why she was angry… but, it was difficult to- "You booted me off the list for this mission," she stated bluntly.   
    He laughed nervously, "Don't say it that way… I had seniority over you for the mission," he hoped desperately she would buy that.   
    "You and I both know I'm more qualified for this than you'll ever be," she stated bluntly once again. "And I checked the lists. We could have both gone, but you chose Tackets over me."   
    "Tackets wanted to go-"   
    "-I wanted to go." She raised an eyebrow.   
    "But the difference is that I don't care about what happens to Tackets!" he blurted out in a whisper. For some reason this seemed like it should have been a consolation or something, but Roxanne didn't take it that way.   
    "So you're protecting me again?" She placed a hand defiantly on one stuck out hip.   
    Dom held her shoulders and looked into her eyes, "Do you have any idea how dangerous this mission could be? Adept recoveries have a high risk factor-"   
    She shrugged him off, "You don't realize that you had no right to take my job away from me. You really wanted it for yourself… and not me, right? It's okay for you to go off and die and leave me here alone but not visa versa?"   
    Dom cringed. She had hit the nail on the head. It was true she would be much better at this job than him as much as it was true that he couldn't bear to loose her. However, the adept recoveries were perhaps the most important of all the parts of the resistance. So by leaving her he could rest assured that she was safe, but she could lose him. _That's starting to sound like I'm being selfish._   
    "Stay," she asked with finality that didn't make it a question. "Tell me either we both go or neither of us goes and I can let it go. We are a team."   
    He stared into her deep brown eyes for a moment. If he passed up this opportunity then there were others waiting, but no one as qualified for this job as himself or Roxanne. By rejecting her as a partner that indicated that she was not ready for the mission, and she was booted back down to the bottom of the list. She wouldn't be going on such a mission anytime soon.. and Tackets wasn't going to give up this mission for her. He couldn't just change partners… So it was either risk the mission and stay, or kill the relationship and go. "I… have to," he pleaded slowly. "Please understand?"   
    Roxanne had drawn the same conclusions of course, and she knew what his choice meant. "The job means more to you than me…" She brushed past him icily and with haste and made sure to bump shoulders as she went.   
    Usually Roxanne wasn't ever violent, in fact, Dom stared after her in shock. He had never seen her do something so hostile to another human being. Enders, yes, but not humans and especially not himself.   
  
    Dom sighed with relief, _She showed up_. "Hi Roxy."   
    "Dom." If looks could kill… Her dark glimmering eyes shown through her bangs and every so often a strobe light would streak her whole appearance red. She sat down on her chair backwards, as usual, and glared.   
    He was shaken by her, this was the exact opposite of how she usually acted, but he was together enough to keep his composure when speaking. "Roxy… I'm sorry, its too late to change, or else I would."   
    "But you won't stay."   
    "You know I can't… I can't endanger the mission for selfish reasons-" Had he not been so confident, he would have slapped his head.   
    Roxanne, of course, caught the slip up. "You already have, you ass. _I_ should be on that mission." Dom stared dumbfounded as she ordered a drink.   
    _She… cursed…?_   
    "The problem," Roxanne continued, "is why you made that choice in the first place. It was wrong of you, and you know it. It's got more to do with our relationship than it has to do with the list and how qualified I am. You can't just take choices away from me- you have to trust me."   
    "It's more complicated than that Roxanne," Dom twirled his drink.   
    "How so?"   
    " You just turned 16 and I'm… I'm 22."   
    "I 'just turned sixteen' six months ago."   
    "Four."   
    "Shuttap."   
    "The point is that I love you, and you've got so much more of your life left… I… wanted to be able to… make you as safe as I could."   
    "Dom, and I your child or your girlfriend? Could you possibly decide NOW? Cause if I'm your girlfriend you don't have a right to make those kinds of decisions for me. My age doesn't determine how competent I am. Can you never treat me like that again? Swear it." She put her hand out to be shaken.   
    "But…"   
    "I'm not your responsibility, I'm your partner," her eyes were pleading his. "Now swear it."   
    "But… but what if… you die?"   
    "Dom…" now she was warning him with her voice in addition to pleading with her eyes.   
    He stared at her long and hard- four years of memories flashed though his head. She was his best friend, she was the coolest person he'd ever met… she'd be just the type to get herself into trouble… and he was just the type to get her out of it. They grew up together in times of great loss and danger. "I'd rather have you alive as my friend than… dead…."   
    There was a long pause between them. Roxanne stood with such abruptness that the table shook and the glass spilled.   
    "Roxanne…"   
    She trembled and turned away.   
    "Roxy… I still love you…"   
    Dom walked up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. He wasn't trying to comfort her or let her down gently- he didn't want to break up… he was panicking.   
    She spun around in the strobe light and tears fell from her eyes, "But not, 'that way' right?"   
    "No- but I do-"   
    Her voice rose, "Then why don't you marry me?" She paused to see if he would say anything.   
    He laughed nervously, "B- I- … **Marry** you? I can't do that…"   
    Now she pushed him a little, "Why don't you do anything more than kiss me? Why do you need to protect me? Why can't I be an adult in your eyes?! You don't F*%#ing love me the same way!!" She ended it with a weak punch to the eye… he could tell she hadn't hurt him on purpose.   


~~~~~~~~~~

  
    Dom sighed and touched his eye.   
  
  
  
    Notes -.-o:   
    -**Important:** Next chapter the plot will get moving, I promise. I planned out the next 4 chapters, and the next one should be long, so look forward to it! This chapter had to happen, because its been in the plan since day one. :P And sorry for not updating for…… a year ^.^o he he he… I was a junior, forgive me~~.   
    -**Did you know?** Of course you didn't because no one but me does, but there is an alternate copy of the memory scene ^.^ I'll post it on my site, which is not worth going to right now- but someday!! That one had a lot more cursing in it… as in, I would have had to change the rating of this fic kind of cursing. So that, and the lemons I have planned, will all be on my site- yay!   
    -**Last Note:** It has seriously come to my attention that this is my idea for a fourth season of Kenshin- instead of the Revenge Arc, which was brilliant, but let's face it, not in the anime, I've realized that I've been planning on resolving all the stuff that never got resolved in the anime- such as, Kenshin and Kaoru's relationship, such as Sano's non-relationship with Megumi, and Sano's life (in Revenge Arc he ends up visiting his family), not to mention all of Kenshin's inner turmoily guilt things with Tomoe and shat- that'll get dealt with too. So, like much of Kenshin, the beginning is sorta slow and dragged on (maybe you don't agree- but ive seen Kenshin 11 times in its completion, and I feel that it did have unnecessary dragged out parts- Its all part of the fun of Kenshin, the character building, the familiarity… I have no life ^.^o) Anyway- prepare for a more fluid plotty part of Kenshin- I warn you now (if you bothered reading this rant) many of the small things I write from here on in will play major important rolls later on- so keep an eye out for them ^.^ JA!   



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